HALLWAY OF DREAMS

Kingfisher Sky is a band put together by the former drummer of Within Temptation, a beauty and the beast goth-metal band not here on PA as of this writing. I have not heard much from WT so cannot make comparisons. But KS are fronted by a female singer as well, Judith Rijnveld, who has a very nice, almost operatic voice. It is very pure but does not have a distinctness that some other females in prog today have, but you certainly can't say anything bad about it. I am sure that the different teams here on PA had a heck of a time categorizing KS, as their music surely does not fit into one specific category. Heavy Prog was surely a compromise and probably the best one they could find. So what of the music?

I'm not sure whether to conclude that they have an identity crisis or just like mixing up power metal with sometimes dreamy music that lets Judith carry the day. And that is often within the same song. So it makes it difficult to say if you like Band "X" you will go for KS. The metal can be very heavy, but surely would not be enough for big time prog metal listeners. There are heavy doses of piano, acoustic guitar and atmospheric keyboards. They use these to try and create melodies when the metal is not engaged, to varying degrees of success. There are certainly more melodic bands making music today. All the music was written by Rijnveld and Ijar de Graaf, the aforementioned drummer, and he makes sure the drums are a large part of the sound without being too much. They even sometimes have a bit of a tribal feel to them. The songs are all in the 3 and a half to 5 minute range, so no grand musical journeys here. The production is pristine and the musicians are certainly no slouches.

This is a showcase for Rijnveld's lovely voice and if female vocals with a good dose of metal without being over the top are your cup of tea, then this might be the album for you. There may just be too much of a swing between metal and symphonic elements to please purists of either genre. But it is a well done album and there is talent here that may please some here on PA. I would encourage finding samples before trying. I have waffled between 3 and 4 stars for this one. It just does not click with me as much as many of my four star albums so have to go with three.