Shardborne
Living Bridges
Out On A Limb Records
2015
Shardborne is an instrumental prog metal act from Ireland, formed back in 2004. They managed to release their debut EP, “Aeonian Sequence” in 2011 and now they have finally released their debut full-length album.
Instrumental albums are always not easy to digest. They do have die-hard fans but also vast haters who can’t stand them, not for a sec. The truth is that most instrumental albums fail to keep the listeners’ interest for very long and they become boring after a while. It’s not only the musicians’ technical skills that can grab the listener’s interest but the refined musical themes and the atmospheric parts too. Thankfully, Shardborne avoid most of the genre’s fatal errors but still they need a bit of work on some parts. I do think that the second part of the album is more melodic and advanced as well. The production is also wonderful. The album was recorded by Ben Wanders (drums) and Ciaran Culhane (guitars) and went on to be mixed and mastered by producer Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, Scale the Summit).
The album’s music is quite technical and blends metal, rock, atmospheric, alternative & jazzy rock/metal elements. The guys do not go over the line, as it’s usual on such albums, but they do their best to retain the unity on all genres that they blend together. I fancy their atmospheric and rock moments more but there are plenty of metallic ones for the metal fans too. “Living Bridges” is a pleasant album by a skilled new band which tries to make the best of what they can…
Instrumental albums are always not easy to digest. They do have die-hard fans but also vast haters who can’t stand them, not for a sec. The truth is that most instrumental albums fail to keep the listeners’ interest for very long and they become boring after a while. It’s not only the musicians’ technical skills that can grab the listener’s interest but the refined musical themes and the atmospheric parts too. Thankfully, Shardborne avoid most of the genre’s fatal errors but still they need a bit of work on some parts. I do think that the second part of the album is more melodic and advanced as well. The production is also wonderful. The album was recorded by Ben Wanders (drums) and Ciaran Culhane (guitars) and went on to be mixed and mastered by producer Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, Scale the Summit).
The album’s music is quite technical and blends metal, rock, atmospheric, alternative & jazzy rock/metal elements. The guys do not go over the line, as it’s usual on such albums, but they do their best to retain the unity on all genres that they blend together. I fancy their atmospheric and rock moments more but there are plenty of metallic ones for the metal fans too. “Living Bridges” is a pleasant album by a skilled new band which tries to make the best of what they can…