Customer Reviews

Skyshaper (Bonus CD)

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For years, Covenant played it safe and by the book. They literally gave you a beat with Eskil's vocals. Then along came Northern Light, which began what this album fulfills: maturity. It is unsurprising to see so much distaste directed towards Skyshaper on here, you can tell the expectations of these 'fans' obviously were not met (another Dead Stars or Stalker, I'd wager).

The experimentation conducted by the band on this record shows how gutsy they can be and just how varied their sonic palette is. Sadly, I'm sure the next album will be full of all the beats and bass lines this lot are clamoring for. So for those of us who prefer to be challenged and devote our time to understanding the work proffered, Skyshaper is here.

This isn't an easily digestible double disc, oh no. They give out treats: Ritual Noise and Brave New World, but then there are the songs Greater Than The Sun or 20kz which will assuredly go down in Covenant's canon of work as some of their finest. We have the experimental tracks Spindrift and the utterly magnificent Subterfuge for 3 Absynths to contend with also. The latter is a mind-rending journey through harmonics I would not have expected this band to be capable of. Pretty boy EBM/Synthie Pop group INDEED.

I recommend this limited version very highly as I happen to think it is the band's zenith. All the years of mindless club fodder and clever sloganeering gave way to a truly thought provoking, engaging electronic album. For those who choose to sling mud at it, surely there's a new wumpscut, hocico or suicide commando album on the horizon which you can use for background noise while you drive that desk. Say hi to Pohl for me while you're at it.

Ta.

And here we have the two disc limited edition version of Skyshaper. I'm not a big fan of this album to begin with, I considered it to be quite average, so I was hoping for some nice treats on the bonus CD. Unfortunately it only contains 3 bonus tracks, 2 original songs and a remix. Now here's the real unfortunate part, the bonus disc is garbage, nearly worthless. The first track is 42 minutes of pointless noise, if you thought the track "Cryotank Expansion" off of "Dreams of a Cryotank" was annoying, just wait until you hear this. The next song is ok, nothing great, and then the Ritual Noise remix is pretty pointless because it is just way to similar to the original. Needless to say, I am even more disappointed by this (more expensive) version. This truly is a pitiful release.

I like Covenant, but I wasn't impressed with this release. The songs are kind of flat, and although not bad, they just lack energy. I saw them in concert supporting this cd, and it was quite good, but they really seemed sort of conceited. After the show, the ushers, and a stage hand announced that the band would be at an after party in a bar in Cleaveland a few blocks down, but the group never showed up.

It's a so-so recording with no zip. Try Northern Light first.

While a few tracks seem as though they could have been good, the entire album suffers from lackluster production. Ritual Noise, the first single, sets itself up for some good breaks and then squanders them completely. Happy Man is nothing more than some lyrics slapped over a sound test, and they tell you as much in the liner notes.

This album plays like it was made in a rush to fulfill a contract. Take it back to the studio for a few months and release it when it's done.

What made Covenant's last effort, Northern Light, very good was that the band seemed oblivious to how good they were. A slight, humbling unsuredness really.

This humility is alas devoid on Skyshaper, and while things aren't as far as being pretentious and pompous, they are nonetheless annoying at times. The very first song, Ritual Noise, has the lines of "We make ritual noise, we weave the fabric of dreams..." and other likesuch talk of grandeur as made by them.

The special edition version I got has some photos of frozen landscapes, the band looking cool-Swedish, and some rather space-y sounding quotes from the band. They sound like they've been translated from Japanese... which is odd considering the lyrics are otherwise devoid of little mispronunications/misgrammarizations one tends to hear from bands that come from non-English speaking countries.

Perhaps it'll grow on me, but still I don't feel compelled to listen to it very often.