By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal
Indian heavy metal band Albatross caught the eyes and ears of many in their home country and across the world with their first two EP releases ‘Dinner Is You’ (2010) and ‘The Kissing Flies’ (2012), by pursuing a style of horror-themed traditional metal that instantly distinguishes them from the rest, and executing this style successfully to achieve commendable output. With an enhanced line-up and an innovative approach, Albatross spent the last three years writing and honing new material. The result is their debut full-length album ‘Fear From The Skies’, out now via Transcending Obscurity India, and sees the band venture into unconquered territory in more ways than one.
The music on the first two Albatross releases is a product of the band’s two biggest collective inspirations, horror and traditional metal, and while this 36-minute full-length effort continues to abide by those foundations, it is vastly exploratory and expands the musical scope of the band to take it much further than the EPs did.
The album is conceptually divided into two parts, ‘Story 1: Children Of The Cloud’ comprising the first five tracks, and the remaining tracks constitute ‘Story 2: The Assassin’s Flight’. The music in the first part corresponds closely to the story, carrying a very experimental, soundtrack-like vibe which excellently represents the ebb and flow of Story 1. The prog influences of some of the band members are fully utilized in this section, as is evident from compositions like ‘The Raptorsville Fair’, ‘Jugglehead The Clown’ and specially ‘Children Of The Cloud’, a seven-minute tune which has been filled expertly with smoothly flowing arrangements.
But the second part is where this album truly hits its musical peak, with three tunes that present Albatross’ darkest, doomiest and most melodic work till date. ‘In The Lair Of Dr. Hex’ is their finest creation without doubt, and singlehandedly makes this album worth the time and effort the band has put into it. ‘A Tale Of Two Tyrants’ and ‘The Empire Of Albatross’ serve as apt follow-ups and ensure that the album ends on a high.
The addition of the third guitarist has enabled the band to incorporate far greater degrees of heaviness, melody and complexity into their musicianship. The three-guitar setup is not something many bands are willing or daring to even attempt, but Albatross definitely pull it off to great effect. Besides, the conceptual lyric-writing has attained new extremes, as has the vocal range, the writing and playing abilities of the old guitar duo, and the rhythm section. The album’s short duration also makes it more attractive, as the band has focused their creative energy into a smaller number of tunes rather than going the often-contrived hour-plus epic concept album route. In addition, Bevar Sea guitarist Rahul Chacko a.k.a. Scribble Bandit has come up one of the most captivating pieces of cover artwork seen in metal in a long time, and one that perfectly represents this album.
Albatross’ ‘Fear From The Skies’ is audaciously brilliant, the first of its kind, and regardless of commercial success or failure, will stand the test of time as an artistic endeavor of sheer quality.
Rating: 9/10
Record Label: Transcending Obscurity India
Release Date: May 20th 2015
Track Listing:
Story 1: Children of the Cloud
1. Intro – Advance
2. The Raptorsville Fair
3. Jugglehead the Clown
4. Children of the Cloud
5. Outro – Fold
Story 2: The Assassin’s Flight
6. In the Lair of Dr.Hex
7. A Tale of Two Tyrants
8. The Empire of Albatross
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