Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Under Silver Sky we find a meaning, the land below reflecting in the glow of precious colours, far and away from the bleak dark hues that dog us, unscorched by the orange and yellows of a blistering sun; that meaning is that of tranquil repose, of a calm composed of serenity and possibility, and one to whom the sound of melodic rock is always a welcome addition.

Finland’s STUD’s fifth studio album is one uplifting, unperturbed inspiring mood; the silver fluency of eloquence is on display in its usual style and becoming nature; and as the performance of the album leaves the listener gasping for me, it is fair to acknowledge that silver tongue and the dramatic music are not only deserving of one of the pioneers of Finnish Heavy Rock, but that they are completely dominant in their field.

Under Silver Sky is an album underpinned by resilience, of a pattern that continues to hold sway in a manner of crafted professionalism and intrigue. As the journey of Ari Toivanen, Mika Kansikas, Lauri Leno, and Stenda Kukkonen continues and with a generosity of spirit that captures the imagination and adds fluency to the silver-tongued shine.

Across tracks such If Leaving Is So Easy, Spell Of Emotion, Battle Of A Boozer, the excellent Low Battery, and the finale of Castaway. STUD fervently dedicate themselves to the responsibility of their music, and one that is to be seen as an enthusiastic process of Nordic long-term supremacy and power in the genre.

There is a rawness that underpins the effect of the album, it is one that reaches down into the soul of the listener and asserts that time is in the hands of the diligent and the industrious, and Under Silver Sky, with its allusion to the precious and the colourful, is one of the eventful and active heartbeat in music form. An album that occupies the mind and gives the atmosphere of the heavens its dynamic glow.

Ian D. Hall