SONG REVIEW: Somber Skies - "Suffering"
“Truly an evil and dark performance”
by Jesse Smith
The more and more I listen to the up and coming, truly talented bands I normally notice the heavy genre blending that reflect the artist’s influences. From rock to pop, Rap and metal, even that “Y’allternative” thing that popped off on TikTok. But something I personally love is the seamless crossing of subgenres, mainly metal subgenres. Somber Skies is a progressive metal project from NYC, and after listening to their newest single “Suffering” I really realized how much I appreciated when artist let their creativity break boundaries. From Tech-Death to Nu Metal, Somber Skies really brings out the best of their influences.
When doing some background research on the 2 piece project, a part in their bio that really stood out to me was “rebuild the classic darkness of metal”. From the beginning of “Suffering” I could immediately feel what that meant. Starting off with the classic guitar fade in to an attention grabbing guitar riff really created the base of what was to come. Setting the dark atmosphere, as the song drives into a more traditional metal direction. What really took me by surprise was the first comedown. I don’t want to say breakdown or tempo drop because it wasn’t a heavy vibe in a mosh pit sort of way, but more of an emotional heavy and the speed of the song changed. A very doomy atmospheric section was a complete shake up but it was so memorable. Even though that part feels like a chorus, it isn’t, But the deftones style clean vocal makes a return at the end before an even cooler shake up. At this point, the lead up for every metal song is the epic final breakdown and Somber Skies really brought the heat. The breakdown itself wasn’t the mood driver though, it was the vocal performance that really made this truly evil. The best way I can describe this is that truly instinctual emotional piercing scream that Tyler Dennan from Sworn In could deliver. And as the song comes to an end, the vocalist got more raspy almost in black metal territory. Truly an evil and dark performance.
So today, when I say genre blending, I truly mean the artist blending of the metal subgenres to make a kickass metal song. Breaking boundaries of what can be mixed and how. Somber Skies pushing the gatekeepers aside to make what they think is just a brutal metal song that sounds good is what makes this song slap so hard. As the band progresses, I’m sure more and more refined songs will come that reaches even further.