Tag Archives: Shattered Skies

ProgPower USA 2020 Canceled, 2021 Festival Announced and GoFundMe Launched

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Sadly, the long-running and legendary ProgPower USA has been forced to cancel their 2020 weekend-long festival in September. Promoter Glenn Harveston took to social media to announce that ProgPower USA XXI, the annual Atlanta event is canceled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for September 8 – 11, 2021. “We can’t social distance in the venue (Centerstage) which is sold out.” The festival has rebooked for 2021 and launched a GoFundMe campaign to try and recover the lost monies from their $14,000 lost to a one-time US Visa application. On the plus side 19 of this year’s anticipated 21 acts have reconfirmed for next year. Theyhavealreadyreceived 25K of the 14k goal. Continue reading →


Shattered Skies – Muted Neon

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In the decade since Djent first hit the scene boasting algebraic riffs, yet also throwing back to the likes of Tangerine Dream’s spell-binding atmosphere. With Meshuggah being the catalyst and the lead that many of the scenes alumni would take inspiration, at the outset, it was a thriving community of bands and their ravenous fans.Continue reading →


Shattered Skies – The World We Used To Know

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In the last couple of years, Irish/UK based quartet Shattered Skies have been making ripples in the Prog ocean, including an early but show-stealing performance at the first incarnation of HRH Prog with their brand of tech metal. The fact that it has taken so long for a full debut to see the light of day and capitalise on this momentum could have proved damaging for lesser bands, and even seen them forgotten about. Fortunately this shouldn’t prove a problem for an act with such a strong balance between the memorable and the forward thinking.

Sitting well alongside their peers with the air of drifting but Meshuggah like crunching tone of TesseracT and the soaring melodies of Alaya, The World We Used To Know (Independent/Holdtight! PR) is by no means a wholly original concept but is delivered with a much bigger emphasis on actual, catchy songs than most. The vast bulk sits on the anthemic side with the merest suggestion of further imagination. Sean Murphy’s lofty vocals offer the towering performance that this brand of metal expects without the reliance of harsh growls.

So far, so good, but there is the niggling sense that there is a lot of boldness and evolution waiting to come out. The likes of ‘Collapse Of Man’ and the following ‘End And The Rebirth’ show futuristic keyboards at play ,which then seems to get buried for a more straightforward formula here on in, reappearing again with the magnificent 11 minute title track. This closing epic shows them really exploring the prog rabbit hole with various twists and dynamic shifts yet still contains plenty of drawing hooks. A stark statement of just what they are capable of.

A very strong and immediate debut of impressive technical prowess married with a level of immediacy that many in this crowded bracket cannot muster, Shattered Skies have shown just why they have made such an impact. The only dampener is the evidence on show that they have the prowess to be more daring, adventurous, and even more special. A very commendable start which closes with what almost feels like a teaser for bigger things to come.

 

8.0/10

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CHRIS TIPPELL