Photo Credit: Jan Daciuk
The Sky Is formed in 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. The band released their self titled debut on November 9, 2012. Their sound is comprised of several influences from various corners of the music world. You will hear some stoner rock, doom, sludge and even post hardcore sounds within their music. The band retains two original members that were on the debut which is Maximilian Herbst, and Robert Pełka. Herbst and Pelka share guitar duties in the band and are a shredding duo that is a delight to hear. Their style at times is minimalist, but yet again there are moments they crank it up and truly show off their abilities. The Sky Is has now released their most recent work entitled ‘Telepathie’. The EP features two new members of the band, Rafał Szmidt on bass and Jacek Łaziuk on drums. Of course you wouldn’t know they are new to the band by the output of their talents on this EP. The bass and drum parts are a huge gear in the machine known as The Sky Is. Though the band is instrumental it doesn’t leave you wanting vocals. They have a way of composing the music so that is stays fresh, vibrant and is constantly entertaining with constant break neck tempo changes. The album was recorded and mixed by Przemysław Wejmann at Perlazza Studio and mastered by Matt Lynch at Mysterious Mammal Recording.
“Entangled” opens up the album with a burst of energy. A tribal drum beat by Jacek Łaziuk lures us in and we hang on these echoing guitar riffs before the chugging train starts rolling. Most modern bands which include vocalists are often pushed into a genre based on their singers style of vocals. The Sky Is doesn’t have that problem. As an instrumental band their sound can push boundaries that other bands cannot. Do they push those boundaries? Yes, they most certainly do. In this opening track you will hear bits a pieces of doom, sludge, post hardcore, metalcore, prog and other various influences. There is no way a vocalist even those of legendary status could keep up with this bands ever changing and morphing sound. The second track “Kudzu” sounds just like the wild vine it may be named after. The varying sounds and styles take over and run its course and nothing will prevent its travel. The bass licks by Rafał Szmidt truly stand out on this track and add a whole dimension of groove to the track. Then you get swarmed by these brutal and sludgy riffs by guitarists Maximilian Herbst and Robert Pełka. On “Depths” Laziuk’s bass playing again gets the ball rolling. This track has a true ambient feel to it at moments, and then the heaviness kicks in out of nowhere. The constant bass licks and the echoing guitars overlaying that just sets this relaxing mood. The drums on this song come across with more of a slowed down punk vibe with a lot of high hat action. About 2 minutes into the track it really starts to grind things out and they anchor that grit your teeth heaviness. The Sky Is really set themselves apart from most other instrumental bands. For me there are very few instrumental bands that can really keep my attention and those are Pelican and Karma To Burn, and The Sky Is are now welcomed into that fold. ‘Telepathie’ is an amazing EP that has immense re-listen qualities and will never bore you. The Sky Is has an always evolving sound that keeps you on your toes and eagerly awaiting the next note.
