Condition Black

Two years after their impressive and addicting Outsiders, Skyliner delivered another huge record in Condition Black. This era of the band was my introduction to their work, which is steadily growing as the band really carves an identity of their very own. Outsiders was a massive record full of bangers and some of the band's greatest tracks, giving this album a huge, blazing torch to try and continue on with. Condition Black builds upon the distinct sound of their debut, bringing forth some truly impressive advancements but also a few stumbles; it is here that Skyliner's greatest weaknesses and strengths are dissected and displayed.

The band at this point consists of only three members, lacking the keyboards to bring atmosphere and detail to the swarm of riffs and licks. Mastermind Jake Becker further smiths out his incredible guitar playing which fuses the role of a rhythm and a lead guitarist on here, with almost every song showcasing a multitude of chunky riffs that spring into soaring leads with zero warning. His style feels even more bare here, with a cleaner production that highlights every note he plays. The bass and drums lock into a backbone to support him, only with a lot less bass leads than last time. The Skyliner formula remains mostly the same, minus keys, but what's truly unique here is how they create such a different tone and feeling.

Condition Black is darker, broodier, and more introspective than its predecessor, while also being a lot heavier and angry, something instantly noticeable only a few tracks in. "Tidal" kicks things off with thick, minor-colored chords and arpeggios with looming bass notes. It eventually fires off into a swirl of sudden high-screaming riffing and incessant drum buildup before the title track begins. To create, one must first destroy...

The greatest strengths of this album: sweet, catchy hooks and razor sharp riffing. A few of Skyliner's best songs yet shine extremely bright here, namely "Too Many Voices", "Your Hand in Mine", and the almighty ridiculously sick "As Above, So Below (Those Who From Heaven to Earth Came)." The best of this record is completely fat free, with non-stop energy a-la their debut record, albeit in a more heavy/thrash metal sense than a power metal sense. The band sounds focused and direct but also a bit angrier and colder. When they're really on it they sound amazing.

"As Above, So Below" is a vicious, monstrous, aggressive track with endless weight and swagger. The way all of those segueing riffs in between the verses build up and then EXPLODE with that "Uriel, lifeblood of mys-ter-y!!" chorus is just so much fun and so perfectly crafted. "Too Many Voices" is just as great; those riffs that switch seamlessly from smooth, bouncy tapping to sharp, staccato chords and squeals are fantastic. The title track, the looming, rhythmically interesting "No World Order", the borderline death metal of "The Morbid Architect", and the aforementioned songs are truly impressive and show Skyliner's solidifying style and identity.

The weaknesses: those interludes and "Cages We Create". This album suffers from the same minor flaws that Outsiders struggled with, only now they've gone from minor flaws to glaring fault lines separating some of the best songs on this album. If you play "Starseeker", "As Above, So Below", and "The Morbid Architect" all in a row you'd get a 1, 2, 3 combo of bangers leading right into one of the best songs on the record to close things out. Unfortunately, those dang interludes full of noodling and ambient noises wreck the flow of the second half and leave me pressing the skip button. "Cages We Create" is a slow, ballad-type song like "Aria of the Waters" from the previous record, only it's missing the same emotion and gradual buildup of tension. The first 4 tracks all play out great, but "Cages We Create" just sort of exists at track 5. Then you have "Starseeker" followed by a weak interlude, then "As Above, So Below" followed by an even longer, weaker interlude. The flow of the record is brutally Tanya Harding'd by these interludes and "Cages We Create".

This is really the only gripe with Skyliner I have - their music is so fascinating and original but sometimes they sort of lose focus. It's not even that they have ideas that fall flat, it's moreso a matter of some parts being perhaps a bit unnecessary. The previous album had that extremely overlong outro to the ending song and was overall a tad too long, and on Condition Black we have two interludes that don't contribute to the album much and one long ballad that lacks the songwriting prowess of the other songs. It makes me wonder if Jake realized this, since their followup album would solve almost every single flaw the band's music had. But I digress.

All that being said, the flaws are not enough to ruin the record. This is more than solid power metal as a whole, and at its best moments it's completely earth-shattering. If those filler tracks were absent, this could easily blow Outsiders clean out of the water. The best songs on this album are really, really good. "Too Many Voices" and "As Above, So Below" are in my top 5 favorite songs by Skyliner. The other 5 great ones are absolutely no slouches, with "Your Hand in Mine" being an underdog grower that I love more and more every time I hear it. Don't let my issues with this record detract you from giving these a listen!

Skyliner brought some extremely potent songs to the table here, and while the record might not play so smoothly from start to finish, more than half of these tracks are red-hot tunes full of Jake Becker and co.'s now-signature razor-sharp riffing and cosmically catchy hooks imbued with a darker, more sinister edge. If you enjoyed their first album, you'll enjoy this; when the best songs are playing it's truly a thundering symphony - the light that cannot bend.