When you look at the early interviews with the Gothenburg bands, there was a very strong desire from the beginning to separate themselves from what was happening in Stockholm, forging their own identity. DT had shown this with their demos, but ‘Skydancer’ took it to another level.
This record is an anomaly in their discography but also within Melodic Death Metal as whole. Most of the tracks extend past the 5-minute mark and cram in a dizzying number of changes. Counterpoint (essentially two melodies playing independently one of another), blast beats, acoustic guitars, clean vocals, not just scattered across the record, but even jam packed within the same song. Is it good? I would say it depends on how you value ambition versus cohesion in your songwriting. There are some incredibly complex harmony arrangements going on at every level of this record. Just listen to the 3 first tracks of this record: ‘Nightfall’, ‘Crimson Winds’ and ‘Bolt’. The first is a lightning-fast banger that skirts between the line of melodic Death/Black with its prevalent use of tremolo picking. ‘Crimson Winds’ on the other hand experiments between speed and slower segments within a moment’s notice and ‘Bolt’ feels like a lush ballad with its folk-infused melodies and female vocals.
This ambition comes with the trade off that not everything flows smoothly. You’re bombarded with all these wild ideas that are barely well-threaded together. I would say that Alf era At the Gates and Eucharist are more well-structured and stand up better. Despite my minor critiques, this is an incredibly rich and musically diverse record to have been written by teenagers. It’s a record filled with youthful energy and a desire to make a statement.
‘Skydancer’ serves as a testament to how early Melodic Death Metal could have been easily lumped as progressive or technical Death Metal. There are so many features that would rapidly fade within the genre , particularly the use of counterpoint or the folkier sounds, influenced by Swedish revival bands Garmarna and Hedningarna. It is evident the band at this time were pushing for an almost romanticist vision of what Death Metal could do. A lot of this is reflected in the poetic ramblings of the lyrics, greatly inspired by Martin Walkyer of Skyclad. Hard to pick a favorite but I love the dual vocal approach of ‘Shadow Duet’ between Anders and Stanne, it’s a song where it feels their adventurous songwriting really paid off.
While it is not their best album, it is still a completely unique work that deserves praise for how out of field it was. Just think of where Death Metal was at in 93, showing the new horizons it could twist and shape into.
