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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.
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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.
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