MARS RED SKY

A crushingly masterful piece of melodic doom metal, done through the lens of prog. Doom metal isn't normally the preserve for complex time signatures due to its slow speed, but this not quite so heavy take on the genre manages to work proggy complexity into the style wonderfully. Mars Red Sky each play their respective instruments excellently, managing to make a lighter take on doom, and make it experimental and make it good. "Strong Reflection" grabs you, and the other tracks are each in their own ways a treat. "Way To Rome is probably the best track amongst this embarrassment of musical riches. It simply is a wonderful gateway into doom that is also particularly unique and well done. Doomers and prog metal fans will both find plenty to love on this spectacular record, in a rare moment of crossover to boot.

4.5 stars. Out of the seven tracks five are incredible while the other two I'd say are good. A very strong debut from this trio out of France playing a heavy brand of Space Rock often with the guitar down-tuned with a heavy drums/bass rhythm section. Vocals are the wild card not sounding like they belong to this style of music. For my tastes they sound a lot better on the debut here than the two albums that follow.

It feels like they decided after this recording to make the contrasts greater between the Doom-like sound and the vocals to the point the vocals seem lame sounding at times. Still I feel the two albums that follow are both 3.5 star recordings despite the vocals because these guys can write really good melodic tunes. This is the one to get though released in 2011 we get 40 minutes of very good music.

"Strong Reflection" opens with some "oh my" heavy bass lines and then the guitar joins in then drums and we have mid-paced sludgy sound. Vocals don't arrive until before 1 1/2 minutes and I really dig the lyrics on this one. "Our ship exploded in the sky, a strong reflection in my mind." This is not a Sci-Fi album though, in fact they named themselves MARS RED SKY because it just sounded cool.

Great opener though followed by "Curse" which is one of the simply good songs and the shortest at 4 minutes. "Falls" opens with the wind blowing and it will close the same way. A Native sounding beat takes over as bass comes and goes then some guitar expressions. A unique sound. At 1 1/2 minutes it gets heavy. Thunder as the guitar solos over top. Someone yells at 3 1/2 minutes. Yes this is awesome. A killer instrumental.

"Way to Rome" is a fun song with a cool story about riding that dark horse. "Saddle Point" opens with atmosphere as bass and acoustic guitar join in. Some Post-Rock styled guitar too. Ends like it began and this is the second and final instrumental. One of the simply good songs. "Marble Sky" is excellent with the vocals sounding different, like they're processed or something. It opens sounding like BLACK SABBATH which lasts about a minute. When the vocals step aside the guitar solos each time.

The closer "Up The Stairs" is my favourite. Those mono- toned vocals singing "Up the stair, climb up the stair, up to anywhere, anywhere, then I see you stare, see you stare..." this is all in a mellow bass/drum section and not until 4 minutes in! I like the echo on the vocals too. Nice buildup before we get vocals eh? It opens with catchy beats and deep bass lines then tasteful guitar. It kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes with down-tuned guitar. That changes after 3 minutes when it solos over top.

Most fans seem to rate the first three studio albums fairly evenly but for my tastes this one you need to have. Better lyrics, vocals and compositions in my opinion.