Kingfisher Sky - Hallway of Dreams (2007) - A big lullaby for depressive babies - 42% (15/07/14)

Kingfisher Sky is yet another female fronted symphonic metal band from the Netherlands with a calm and somewhat progressive approach. The band was founded by Ivar de Graaf, who had been the drummer of Within Temptation. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that his new band’s first output is quite close to the calmer, almost folk rocky earlier releases of his former band. And it’s also no surprise that the band lacks any kind of unique style, sounding like an odd mixture of Within Temptation, Loreena McKennitt, Evanescence, and Autumn.

I have no problem with calmer symphonic metal bands, but Kingfisher Sky is definitely going too far on their debut release. The album sounds like one big lullaby. It’s mostly boring and, sometimes even too pop oriented for me. “Balance Of Power” has neither balance nor power, and I certainly don’t want to see the world “Through My Eyes”, because expressed this way, it all looks pretty dull, grey, and melancholic.

Among the better songs, we have the airy grower “Her White Dress”, even though it reminds me of an Evanescence ballad rather than a symphonic metal song. The three best songs are the playful folk ballad “Big Fish”, with its joyful flute sounds, the dreamy and warm single “November”, and the title track “Hallway Of Dreams”, which actually includes a few engaging guitar riffs that are otherwise almost completely absent on this record.

Despite a couple of good efforts, Kingfisher Sky delivers an album that could be played to a baby, and that doesn’t offer anything outstanding or unique. Fans of the aforementioned bands could give this release a try, but any other symphonic metal fan should skip the debut and try out the much better second effort Skin Of The Earth instead.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal