Sky Of Rage - Sky Of Rage (2012)

1. Stardust (4:24)
2. Countdown (3:57)
3. Sky Of Rage (4:20)
4. Reclaim Your Rights (3:47)
5. Soldiers In A Line (4:26)
6. Speed Of Light (4:02)
7. Sacrifice (3:37)
8. Liar (4:04)
9. Shape Of A Giant (3:29)
10. If There Was A God (4:13)
11. Slave (4:07)

Musicians:
Staffan Carlsson - Vocals
Joachim Nordlund - Lead Guitar (Astral Doors)
Janne Cederlung - Rhythm Guitar
Tomas Friberg - Drums
Mika Itäranta - Bass (Astral Doors)

Sweden’s Sky Of Rage creates a nostalgic form of Ye Olde Metal on its self-titled debut full-length CD. It’s a combination of classic rock and old school heavy metal in the manner of Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath.

Sky of Rage was formed by current Astral Doors’ guitarist Joachim Nordllund, former Astral Doors bassist Mika Itäranta, guitarist Jan Cederlund, drummer Tomas Friberg and virtually unknown vocalist Staffan Carlsson. There are certainly some similarities to Astral Doors, but Sky Of Rage should be treated as its own entity, whether it goes any further than its debut or not. Friberg and Nordlund wrote some cohesive compositions over the course of a couple of years during Astal Doors’ downtime. The 11 tracks on the CD are loaded with heavy riffs, blazing guitar leads and calculated keyboard accents met with melodically layered vocal harmonies.

For the most part, it’s a guitar-driven album. But there’s a nice balance between the heavy guitars and keyboards, which are noticeable, but play a subtle part in the song’s compositions. The production is robust and in your face, especially the guitars and Carlsson delivers some powerful and classy vocals.

Opening salvo “Stardust” is immediately intriguing with its Dio/Rainbow flavor. Its thick riffs, quick-paced drum fills, splendid melodies and vocal harmonies gets the CD off to a great start. A lot of the lyrics on the CD confront mankind’s existence on Earth (“Stardust”) or contemplates leaving the planet due to humans damaging or destroying it daily (“Speed of Light”). They also touch on war (“Soldiers in a Line”) and a young girl’s drug addition (“If There Was A God”).

Sky of Rage won’t win any originality contests, but if you dig great compositions, decent songwriting and songs with a classic hard rock sound, then you’ll enjoy this Swedish band’s debut. --- Kelley Simms, heavymetal.about.com

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