AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SKY ISLAND — “FALL INTO DARKNESS”

This is one of those “and now for something completely different” moments at our site, like coming home to find that all your furnishings have been replaced and people you’ve never seen before are there waiting for you. Startling to be sure, but if you don’t immediately exit and slam the door, maybe you discover that the unexpected changes are… to your liking.

Well, maybe you’ve seen or heard one of the participants in Sky Island before. He’s the one sitting behind the drum kit in the video you’re about to see. His name is Ben Fagerness, and he’s been violently hitting things in the Minneapolis death metal band Graveslave for almost a decade, and also in Gloryhole Guillotine.

Some of you might also recognize the other person in the video, Niilo Smith, though his participation in the wide world of metal and rock as a solo creator has been in a very different sector, most likely unknown to the usual visitors at this site.

As you’re about to see and hear for yourselves through our video premiere for the single “Fall Into Darkness“, what these two old friends have done together in Sky Island isn’t as harsh or as vicious as most of what you’ll find at this site, but it still has its own exhilarating intensity, its own capacity to get a listener’s nerves firing.

That happens very fast in this song, thanks to a rapidly darting riff, a rumbling low end, and the way that Niilo‘s singing voice rockets into the stratosphere. Yes — gasp! — there’s singing in this song, singing that spans an impressive range, and the hook-laden fleet-fingered riffing ranges too, providing some hard-rock jolts as well as climbing and ethereally swirling, and with a bit of prog influence in the mix as well. There’s also a moody guitar solo in the song that connects to its title.

You’ll also see that Ben Fagerness doesn’t just keep time or set up rocking grooves — he also erupts in fast, electrifying fills that add to the track’s pulse-punching effects.

Sky Island plans to release a few more singles throughout the rest of 2023 and into 2024, with a full-length album coming early next year. As the band says, “This is just the beginning for Sky Island“.

SKY ISLAND LINKS:
https://linktr.ee/skyisland_music
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4UzIWN5TXj3knqLgqknYuq?si=n-cDe2b2TfePghD2IRmgsQ
https://www.facebook.com/skyislandhq/
https://www.instagram.com/skyisland_music/
https://skyislandofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@SkyIsland_music