Is that enough

Will you be there

All I care

Changed my mind

Justice

Dangermind

Take your chance

Never let you go

Return today

Where nobody cries

Heaven tonight

Lay your hands on me

Reto Reist - Vocals 

Daniel Joss - Acoustic guitar 

Pfister Menz - Bass 

Matthias Hagmann - Drums 

Beat Heiniger - Guitars

SKANSIS: "Take your Chance"  skansis         escape music

distributed in Switzerland by    

release date: 23 July 2007

Recorded at Powerride Studios, mixed by Thom Blunier (Shakra), mastered at MSM_Studios in München

preview  by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo ___             

Time, then, will tell.

Oh thou, polymorph and copious Swiss land! Land of Black, Death metal , Gothic and ...melodious Rock. Melodic Hard Rock like Krokus, or even better Gotthard and Shakra. Is that any bad? It's nothing for angry and hungry metallers, but let's never underrate the importance of the Rock door for the new generations. And actually is that kind of melodic Swiss Rock  that receives new input by Skansis (ex Shine) from Bern whose debut album "Take your Chance" will be distributed West Europe-wide (UK, Italy  and Greece too) in July 2007. We could say that  the "little" Children of Gotthard and Shakra are on the good way  to take the flag for the future. With "Take your Chance" they show they truly have this possibility and ability. Already with these tracks they can deliver something  with some really good touching unpredictable passages that make the difference. For the moment still too bound to  textures from Gotthard, they nonetheless show that they could propose a spark of personal style, in particular with the opener  Is that enough. The track number 1 is indeed the one different and more modern in an otherwise homogeneous texture. Energetic uptempo, immediately catchy but nor cheesy, a bit  Krokus -oriented, this song could interest a wide superior target till reaching Modern Alternative listeners of Nickelback, maybe up to post-grunge-ian public, and i'm really betting on this band when i say so. The rest of the album is mostly  dedicated to Gotthard, Shakra, Bon Jovi listeners and to quite classic melodic Rock that bring Scorpions reminiscences. But we never should forget  a) that the guitars are truly great and versatile, sign that this band can give something innovative in the years to follow, b) that the track All I care somehow placed among Whitesnake, Scorpions and Gotthard is another valuable piece of sympathetic energy.  

5 years of music together have built a good agreeable group, a new generational step. We need a bit more than an agreeable group but Skansis could make the jump if they will dare to dare. Agreeable are also vocals, with a certain  White Lion/Bon Jovi appeal, although i find them still too "young- sounding", and couldn't be different if the target is the young generation, actually. I personally  hope that, in future, Reto Reist can  add more aggressiveness to his seductive timbre. Already in Justice there is a shadow of what these vocals could evolve. Justice is a nice ballade, as only melodic rockers can compose, and if, at a first impact, it seems nice but not too original, that  is wrong impression, because right here we find one of the places where unpredictable chords and staccato renovate the well-known stuff. Dangermind is a classic  guitar driven fast tempo rock following both  American examples and the old eras of German rock (with some reminiscence of Scorpions too). Title track Take your Chance is another ear-worm that maintains the line high with more melodic passages. Never let you go is a romantic  ballade expressing feeling through truly varied guitar sonorities. Not completely  proper for candlelight, it rays orange late afternoon light of a warm sun decaying towards the eventide. Return today is extremely likeable and lively, another catchy impact, rocking (and rolling) in the classic way, a song that will not leave you for a while, in particular now that is summertime. Where nobody cries, is another of those few songs where i hear some trace of darker tones in the vocals, a pale trace of struggle. 

The midtempo-slow Heaven tonight is total mainstream, in the footsteps of  the most banal,  trite Gotthard-ian notes. And similarly, Lay  your hands on me is the second track i find totally superfluous. Although the melody is not that awful with a touch of acoustic folk bluesy guitar, is really nothing that can makes the world go round. For me the album closes with  two useless songs, that could have been forgotten in the moment of the construction of the tracklist.

The sound is clear, too clear for my ears, and clear the passage from one song to the other; vocals are never overlaid or overrun by the instruments. Each  instrument is well depicted, nonetheless there is no profound degree of intensity, neither dark ambience, but we know:  this not dark music. This is also not Van Halen. Using the title of the opener, i now ask: is that enough?. No, but it is a nice, agreeable beginning. Time, then, will tell.

Rating: 7,5/10 

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