ION SKY review by Vince Leigh
Australian hard rock outfit Ion Sky may be new, but the band’s sound has a familiar and comfortable ring; it’s accessible metal, not too dense or blindingly relentless, yet blended with some post-grunge flavouring and executed with persuasive competency.
Round The Neck has all the applicable traits, the thundering vocal, the guitar assaults, the dynamics —including a solo held aloft by a cortisone inducing double time double-bass drum workout—tight accents and a few melodic twists and turns that rope you in failing the lyric’s ability to do so through its tendencies for the dramatic.
Not that these more theatrical moments won’t necessarily assuage you, as most devotees of the rock genre know all too well.
As lead vocalist Mike says about the new track, ‘I’ve always had dreams of a demon chasing me, even since I was a child, and it’s something I’ve dealt with in everyday life too, it just comes in different forms. Round The Neck is about facing that inner demon. How do I beat it? Do I let it consume me? Do I let it win?
The lyrics explore the themes of this dark place, and emotionally, the song unleashes a rage inside me, held by both me and the demon.’ Comprising lead vocalist Mike Joseph, Mark Savoia (guitar and vocals), Leigh Sciore (drums), Jake James (guitar and vocals), and Matt Goddard (bass and vocals), Round The Neck was produced by Jake James and taken from the band’s forthcoming debut EP, Regeneration.
When asked about the band’s ambitions, Mike says, ‘That’s a very broad question, but for me personally, it is connecting. If a song we write connects and makes you feel a certain way and makes you want to come back and listen again or see us live, then that’s what I want to achieve.’
To listen to ‘Round The Neck head to Apple Music
