Album Review: Skyblood - Skyblood

Mats Leven is a guy who has been around for decades, has appeared on countless records, and has never for one second been of any note. He is the ultimate utility player; someone who can fill in for the actual star, but whom no one cares enough about to learn his name. I know I've run across him several times over the years, but the only one I can recall with any clarity was on a Candlemass EP, and that's only because of how pissed off I was that Candlemass hadn't retired like they promised. Mats surely did nothing to make me take note of him.

So I'm going to power through this one quickly. Skyblood is Mats' solo project, christened with a name more notable than his own, I would guess. Eschewing his own personality, maybe some people will be tricked into thinking this is an album important enough to listen to. I can assure you it isn't.

We get an album over overblown music devoid of interesting ideas, with the songs growing longer as they go along, starting with the two minute waste of time introduction, and ending with a ten minute 'epic'. No matter how long the songs are, they share a common trait; they lack much of a reason for existing. Mats made his name as a hired gun, singing the songs of whomever needed a voice. Why he thought any of the ideas he collected over the years that make up this record were so worth recording he started a new project for them is beyond me. Even when we hit one of the better moments, like "The Not Forgotten", it's rather bland radio fare.

Mats vocals often venture too far into screaming territory for my taste, and don't sound at all like someone who is "one of the most influential and illustrious names in Swedish metal." He still sounds like the kind of singer you bring in when your band's actual voice isn't available. There isn't any distinct or charasmatic about Mats; he's a voice you're going to forget after you hear it. His screams are generic, and his softer tones have a croaking quality to them that isn't appealing either.

I don't need to spend much more time going through this to get to the main point. Mats Leven might be on everyone's speed dial, but it's not going to be their first call. This album is passable, but that's about it. There's a couple of decent songs, but enough mediocre material and questionable vocal performances to make me wonder who thought this album was worth a label contract. It's not offensively bad, but that's even worse, since at least I'll remember those terrible albums from this year. I'm never going to remember that I listened to Skyblood.