Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

Anova Skyway - A Great and Sudden Change

2/26/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Anova Skyway

A Great and Sudden Change
self-released; 2015

3.6 out of 5

By Kevin Sterne


Anova Skyway sounds like an alt-rock band that has listened to a lot of Mars Volta in their time. The vocals say, “Hi, we are the second coming of Faith No More.” The guitars: “Oh, Hello, we’re Circa Survive.” Genre amalgamations aside, A Great and Sudden Change is a speeding train that never stops chugging, but can’t always stay on the tracks.

Few can fault the band for pulling from “The Simpsons of melodic prog-rock:” the Mars Volta; they’ve literally done everything. Listeners tuned into the Texas prog scene will liken this five-piece to Fair to Midland but the Volta comps are hard to shake off.  A little over a minute into the album sounds eerily similar to the part forty seconds into “Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: B.”). 

Credit plenty of bands for inspiring the music on this album (listen to the opening riff of “Mobius” and tell me the part wasn’t lifted straight from the intro to “The Fall of Aphonia” by Children of Nova). The guitars are spastic, effects drenched and often weave together in a similar vein of Coheed and Cambria or Closure In Moscow or Tides of Man or Stolas or Dance Gavin Dance or The Sound of Animals Fighting or A Lot Like Birds or… well, you get the point. To be sure though, the rabid guitar shredding and gushing atmosphere is on point for the genre. Songs “Primitive,” “Wishful Thinking” (the album’s single), and “Panoramic View” underline the group’s obvious strength.

Elsewhere, the drummer plays tight, complex beats most of the time but his contribution to the rhythm section goes largely unnoticed. Vocally is where the band struggles most—a note to prospective melodic prog acts: You must be able to hit the high notes to play this music. Vocalist Garret West is far more M. Shadows or Serj Tankian than he is Cedric Bixler Zavala. Here is the area where the band shouldn’t be bashful about imitating. 

“A Great and Sudden Change,” like a best-selling paperback, manages to entertain without doing anything wholly novel, but originality doesn’t have to be a chief concern moving forward so much as fixing the vocals. Howard Benson pulled off a Houdini act with Cove Rebber’s voice on Saosin’s self-titled album; maybe more production wizardry is all Anova Skyway needs to fit in with all the Volta spawn
Become A Fan
Tweet
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band

© Divide and Conquer 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact