The April Skies Release A Flood Of Good Music

Artist: The April Skies
Title: Flood
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: WIAB Records

I knew after their impressive EP that The April Skies would follow up with a great album. I hear a different band on Flood, one that has matured considerably since October 2004 when I covered their EP Breathe. I kept thinking-I know this voice, the sound, it is so familiar! Well, I do not hear the British influence so much anymore, what I am hearing is a similarity to one of my favorite bands The Smithereens, particularly with the vocals. Trust me, this a compliment and takes nothing away from what this band accomplishes on this album.

Flood is great album, period. I call it alternative rock, not in the sense of when the term first came about many years ago, no, this is an alternative to crap you hear on the radio every day and see on MTV, and a good one at that. The musicianship is marvelous and their sound is a bit difficult to explain, sort of a roots, southern flavored rock at times (even though they are from Hershey PA) with a bit of the blues, some beautiful jazz influenced piano, a wondrous combination of all of that and more. Think of an experiment cloning Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello together to make one person and you have something that sounds like The April Skies, well maybe a smidgen of Dave Matthews in there too just to cover the roots portion of their sound. I cannot help making these comparisons…its all in good taste to do nothing more than rave about this band. In addition to all those comments and analogies…in the end they really do have their own unique sound, they sound like The April Skies. I think it would be fair to say that they fondly reminded me of all the other artists I mentioned, which is a very good thing in my estimation. I cannot say that there are too many bands that are making music this appealing and with this particular sound today. That fact alone separates them from the pack.

So why am I not mentioning any particular songs? Well the entire album is knockout punch, what else can I say? I heard rocking, tenderness, beauty, sweeping harmonies, everything that makes memorable music. Every track is great. This is a quality rock CD; there is no question about that. They did exactly what I knew they were capable of, make the very best full-length album they possibly could, and I loved it, lucky me.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

May 22, 2005

Rating-9.5/10

01. 322 (3:06)
02. Crutch (3:47)
03. You Are the One (3:22)
04. Long Way Down (4:34)
05. Something to Shine About (4:56)
06. A Game (4:49)
07. Still (3:39)
08. In the Mirror (6:38)
09. Shaking the Day (4:57)
10. I Will Surround You (5:52)

The April Skies Website
Band Site