• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

March 2025

• Phil X & The Drills: Pow! Right In The Kisser
• IQ: Dominion
• Heart Line: Falling Heaven
• Gotthard: Stereo Crush
• Defender: Dying To Live
• Streetlight: Night Vision

February 2025

• Robin McAuley: Soulbound
• Perfect Plan: Heart Of A Lion
• Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
• Mantric Momentum: Alienized
• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
• Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
• Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
• Dream Theater: Parasomnia
• Tyran: Tyran's Oath
• Saber: Lost In Flames

January 2025

• Wildness: Avenger
• The Ferrymen: Iron Will
• Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
• Bonfire: Higher Ground
• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

[ More Music Reviews ]

Skansis: Leaving You

Melodic (Hard) Rock

3.25/5.0

Escape Music
Website Facebook MySpace
by Craig Hartranft,  05.30.2011

Switzerland's Skansis returns with their second release on Escape Music, Leaving You. Honestly, not much has changed since their 2007 debut Take Your Chance and, perhaps, everything that needs to be said about them and their music was said in that review. Or possibly, if anything, Leaving You is a bit heavier than the previous album. Otherwise this is standard European melodic hard rock: strong melodies, hooks, choruses, and taut guitar solos, with lyrics about love and love lost. Generally, if this course continues Skansis could quickly become Switzerland's version of Last Autumn's Dream, if only Skansis would be as prolific (nearly an album a year).

So then the last thing to do is point out the highlights, the songs that seemed rise above the average fare. These would include Leaving You, I Don't Believe, and Coming Out, all solid, heavier, melodic rock songs, with a possible nod to the closer Anything. Mostly, however, I zipped through most of Leaving You songs when I discovered their natural consistency. Hey, if you got a good thing going, why reinvent the wheel.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Skansis' second release Leaving You is more of the same: standard, and generally satisfying, European melodic hard rock, possibly a bit heavier. Hey, if you got a good thing going, why reinvent the wheel.

Alphabetical Index

After a brief three year absence from the studio, Swedish rockers Perfect Plan return with their fourth long player, Heart Of A Plan. This arrives after their vocalist, Kent Hilli, has been involved in a few other projects ... [ Read More ]