Beneath a Steel Sky - Cleave

Angry Metal Guy

Including “for fans of” is pretty common when marketing a band. But is it actually a good idea? Promo text that reads “for fans of [the biggest bands in this genre]” is the worst offender—why wouldn’t I just listen to those bands? I’d rather hear what makes this band stand out. But listing more interesting little-known bands only helps if the audience have heard of them. Anyway, this is post-metal band Beneath a Steel Sky, and they’re for fans of Isis, Cult of Luna, Cave In, Russian Circles, Mogwai… and the rather more obscure Aereogramme.

Beneath a Steel Sky play a less genre-faithful take on post-metal than I had therefore been given to expect. Cleave is spacier and dreamier than the comparisons to Isis and Cult of Luna might suggest, to the extent that in places it reminds me of stoner/psychedelic bands like Dead Meadow (“Vanguard”). There’s lots of reverb-soaked clean vocals, synth washes and floaty guitars (“The Sky Above the Port Was the Colour of Television, Tuned to a Dead Channel,” “Quetzalcoatlus,” …). The Mogwai comparison hints at this, but unlike Mogwai, they are not boring. Like Aereogramme and Mogwai, they are Scottish, and there’s a definite spacey/stonery Scottish post-* scene they fit into. Likewise, in places, in song construction and style, they also remind me of fellow Scots Dvne—for example, the mixed down clean vocals in “The Sky…”, or the clean/harsh vocal duets in a few places (e.g. “Vanguard”). This twist on the post-metal formula works well for them.

Cleave by Beneath a Steel Sky

There’s some great songwriting on Cleave. There are some really pretty melodies woven into the dreamy atmospheric sections (“Vanguard,” “Quetzalcoatlus”). They make good use of their six (!) musicians with some complex multi-part sections (“Cyclical Dunt”). “The Infinite Silence That Follows the Absolute Truth” does a very Mike Oldfield-like job of layering onto a simple repeated motif for most of the song’s build. Of course, this is post-metal, so the big metal crescendo after all the build-up is a staple. While they never really stray from the genre template, they do it well. The big riff and soaring melody line on “Quetzalcoatlus” is a highlight, and closing track “The Becoming” is absolutely gorgeous.

One quirk of the production is that whoever did the mixing is a really big fan of the pan slider. Nearly every song has sections with instruments panned nearly all the way to one side or the other. I don’t hate the effect in general, but it’s a bit overused, and the couple of songs that start with fully panned guitars (“Everyone You’ve Ever Known,” “The Infinite Silence…,” “The Becoming”) keep making me think my headphones have broken. There’s also a fade-out ending on “Vanguard” which comes across as a bit of a cop-out. Gimmicks aside, the production does a good job of balancing a lot of parts and maintaining the dreamy feel, although as usual, it didn’t need to be a DR6.

There’s not a huge amount of new ground being broken Beneath [this] Steel Sky, but they successfully bring their own identity to a crowded genre nonetheless. The spacy, somewhat psychedelic take on post-metal both differentiates them and makes Cleave a surprisingly warm listen despite the usual bleakness of post-metal. The songwriting is consistently strong, and with a tidy 40-minute runtime and a great ending, it’s a very satisfying listen.

Rating: Very Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Ripcord Records
Websites: beneathasteelsky1.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/beneathasteelskyband
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

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