Unusual Sky Cries Mary Leaves You Wanting More

“I like that idea, that mirrors are liquid, moving things, like windows, and that you can go through them into another reality,” commented lyricist Roderick J. Wolgumott Romero after being asked why mirror references frequent “This Timeless Turning,” the newest album offering from the band Sky Cries Mary.

Since its conception in 1989, Sky Cries Mary has definitely been pushing the bounds of the way their music is perceived. SCM has made a niche for itself in the Northwest music scene by varying from the normal concept of what sells.

The lilting vocal harmony of singers Anisa and Roderick Romero, coupled with the unbridled intensity of the guitar on tracks like “Scapegoat,” carry this album to incredible heights of emotion. At the same time, the countless ambient samples on “This Timeless Turning” give it a dream-like quality as well.

It is easy to let oneself drift away with the soft vocals on the ballad-like “These Old Bones” only to find the song taking a sharp twist toward the end, raging with intense sincerity and mounting to a crescendo of human voice, rhythm and noise.

Sky Cries Mary’s ability to be unpredictable is one of the group’s strongest points. Each of SCM’s albums is more than a collection of songs and is really best if listened to from start to finish.

It is sometimes hard to tell where one song ends and another begins because of the subtle flow of the album, but every track leaves one with a longing to hear more.

Sky Cries Mary’s sound has an industrial complexity to it that might not be for everyone, but Anisa’s soft vocals and the almost tribal-sounding drums give it a very human quality that makes it accessible to a large audience. “This Timeless Turning” is a driving third offering from a very different band and is well worth purchasing.

Grade: A