I’m not saying the riff on the title track is thick, but you could probably use it as a winter coat. And let’s be honest, there’s some serious Sabbath worship going on here too. Given that I’m writing this sat about three miles from Aston, that is absolutely fine by me.
Besides, if you are going to deal in heavy rock, then The Quill have got the credentials to make it stick. They are something of a supergroup at this point: Magnus Ekwall on vocals, who has worked with Ayreon and Mountain Of Power; Christian Carlsson on guitar from Cirkus Prütz; Roger Nilsson on bass, whose CV includes Spiritual Beggars, Arch Enemy and Firebird; and Jolle Atlagic on drums, who has done time with Hanoi Rocks, Electric Boys and Firebird.
That is not just experience. That is mileage. Road miles, studio miles, life miles. And you can hear them all over Master Of The Skies.
The title track sets the tone immediately. It is huge, slow-burning, riff-heavy and utterly unashamed of what it is. “Dark City” follows and, if anything, proves that this record is really about the guitar sound: thick, warm, dangerous and capable of filling every corner of the room.
Things get a little more expansive on “You Can’t Kill My Soul”, where The Quill stretch out without losing the weight, before “It’s Over” arrives to crush everything back down again. There is a touch of 60s psych about “Son Of Light”, too, and that is one of the great strengths here. The Quill know exactly what lane they are in, but they are not afraid to wander across the road when the song demands it.
Recorded at their favourite studio, there is a comfort to Master Of The Skies, but not in the sense of complacency. More that this is a band totally at home in its own skin. “If Tomorrow Never Comes” has a plaintive wail to it, while the light and dark of the album, the way it exists in those contrasts, is perhaps never better shown than on “Now You Are Gone”. That only serves to underline just how heavy “Low” is when it comes thundering in.
And then there is “Mastodon”. At nine minutes, it is the epic you rather suspected would be here, and in many ways it ties up all the loose ends: the groove, the psych, the Sabbath shadows, the confidence, the sheer love of making this kind of noise. At least it does until the reprise of the title track brings things full circle.
In truth, Master Of The Skies is a fairly simple album. It is also a superb one. You can analyse it until the cows come home and you will end up in the same place: this is the sound of four lifers making brilliant heavy metal because they can, because they should, and because they still clearly love every second of it.
Rating: 8.5/10
