Dark Sky
Signs Of The Time
Metalapolis Records/SPV
Out: August 4th, 2023
Playing time: 51:46
Dark Sky was founded in the early 80s in Rottweil (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) as a school band. The debut album “Believe It” was not released until 1998. Four more albums were published until 2012. Since then it has been quiet, apart from the live album “Once” in 2018. With “Signs Of The Time” Dark Sky dare to make a comeback with a new line-up. Actually, the album was supposed to be released earlier, but the worldwide Corona pandemic ruined the plans.
The album starts with the intro “Trail To Glory”. OK, I’m not a fan of intros, but this one is definitely worth listening to. A lot of melody but also a lot of bombast. But with “Heroes On Ice” it really gets going, although the synths bother me a bit at the beginning. But later you are compensated by the Melodic Hard Rock. No, “Fools” has nothing to do with the super ballad of Deep Purple. Instead it is a melodic Rock stomper. The title track “Signs Of The Time” is a midtempo Metal anthem with heavy guitar riffs. The strings simulated by the keyboards provide a lot of epic. Children’s voices introduce “Forgiveness”. But later the song picks up speed. The highlight might be the sing-along chorus, and of course the guitar solos. “You & Me” is again a midtempo rocker that you can sing along to quickly. Once again, a song begins with Industrial and synth sounds. Unfortunately, “Wonderland” is no exception. But the musicians make up for it again later with guitar solos and a pounding rhythm section. On the other hand, “Zombies” rocks from the beginning. But it also hardly moves away from the midtempo range. “St. Tropez” is characterised by melodic keyboard melodies but also by guitar riffs. “We’re Falling” is again the finest Melodic Hard Rock. Almost at the very end you can hear a beautiful power ballad with “It’s Not The End”. With a great guitar solo. There is another similarity of names with “In The Heat Of The Night”. And yes, it is a cover version of the cheesy song by Pop starlet Sandra, but much less Pop and fortunately more Rock. And Dark Sky follow it up with another cover. I would be really interested to know where the musicians have found the Schlager “Stín Kátedral” by Helena Vondráčková and Petr Muk. But this song was also integrated into the overall sound of the album. The lyrics in Czech give a slightly exotic touch.
I haven’t said anything yet about the vocal performance of founder and mastermind Frank Breuninger. His singing is a major feature of the album. But he has also managed to find good fellow musicians. And the long-time producer and friend of the band Markus Teske (Symphony X, Vanden Plas) has done a great job with the production. Although I could definitely do without the synth sounds. Only the album cover seems a bit too cheesy to me. But we can say that the comeback was a success.
Dark Sky – Signs Of The Time (Official Music Video): https://youtu.be/0L2nmKbyTEM
Lineup:
Frank Breuninger – Vocals
Jadro Bastalic – Guitar
Harold Merkx – Keyboards
Francesco Pisana – Bass
Steff Grimm – Drums
Track list:
- Trail To Glory
- Heroes On Ice
- Fools
- Signs Of The Time
- Forgiveness
- You & Me
- Wonderland
- Zombies
- St. Tropez
- We’re Falling
- It’s Not The End
- In The Heat Of The Night
- Stín Kátedral
Rating:
Album : 8/10
Cover-Art : 7/10
Songwriting : 8/10
