Lucid Skies is a Canadian punk/metal band and boy, do they do an awesome job of blending traditional punk and thrash on the album Hounds. The songs can be best described as a nonstop action movie. Starting with the first track “Shotgun Mouth” I was impressed with The Dead Kennedys meets Suicidal Tendencies sound. The band pounds on tirelessly with gang style vocals and forceful guitar melodies. By the end of the first song, I was ready to run out of my house and start a riot in the street. The quote at the beginning of the song is from HBO’s unfortunately cancelled Deadwood, clearly proving that these guys have good taste.
I was thoroughly impressed as I listened to the rest of the album. I’d say Lucid Skies is best described as a hardcore band with heavy punk influences in the style of Hatebreed, just not as a heavy. They are a band of very talented musicians with a knack for bringing enthusiasm to life in their songs. With very melodic tendencies, reminiscent of Rise Against, my favorite song of theirs would be “With Eyes”. Please don’t misunderstand, this band does not copy or rip off anyone, I just need to stress to my readers that these guys deserve to have their name known as much as the next band.
The final song I listened to from this album was “Count Me Out”. The amount of effort that clearly went into the structure of the song as a whole is evident. I have to admit, the lyrics are a little hard to understand, but that’s to be expected in this genre. The lyrics I did get out of it were well written and appealing.
(Side note: I did look around on the internet for more of their stuff. Lucid Skies has another album out called Grudge Match (but I’m not sure if it’s the same line up) and even though I’m not reviewing that particular album, it’s awesome as well. If you’re looking for something a little harder than Hounds, that would be the album for you. These guys hit it hard.)
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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