A Skylit Drive

A Skylit Drive’s new acoustic album is proof of something a number of musicians would swear to you they already knew: Symphonies are freaking metal. It never seemed like that far of a stretch for you to be listening to obscure tonal patterns and dynamics, writing guitar solos with the woodwinds’ licks. The band uses this to their advantage a number of times through in the band’s latest offering, a full acoustic remaking of Rise. In a way, the album is a self-proclaimed stop gap; the band unexpectedly lost two members, which kind of put a hamper on their writing process. In order to keep things afloat, they opted for this acoustic record.

The album is everything it needs to be to fill in that space. Their acoustic renditions have musical guts, while vocalist Michael Jagmin’s high-pitched and instantly recognizable tenor compliment the down-tuned, openly strung riffs.

The only major crime here is the forgettable album title. But if that’s the price of admission, I’ll jam these symphonic riffs (with Jagmin’s pop backbone) for a change of pace anytime.