Short Reviews [ Sky Cries Mary - 2020 - "Secrets of a Red Planet"]

US band SKY CRIES MARY has a career that stretches back to the tail end of the 1980's, and were active in their first phase of existence until sometime around 2010. A few years back a new version of the band was formed, and earlier this year they released their first album of new material since 2007. The album is called "Secrets of a Red Planet", and was issued through US label Trail Records in the spring of 2020. As I see that Sky Cries Mary currently has two different Facebook pages and two different web pages, one can draw the conclusion that the band in this new phase has a desire to mark a distance between their past and their present. The material here is also a bit different to what they used to create, at least to my ears. I understand that the material on this album was crafted on a 3 day long improvisational session, and at least to my ears this does shine through in the songs as well, and to a greater extent than on the material I'm familiar with from Sky Cries Mary in their earlier phase of existence. In essence they sound much more like a traditional improvised space rock band this time around. Some trademark features are still present, the myriads of layered sounds, drone like textures, layers of guitar overlays, notes and reverbs and often majestic, smooth, cosmic and borderline tribal and chanting details are all brought out to play on three of the songs here. A piece of more motorik oriented soundscape is tucked in as well, alongside the more atmospheric laden, chaotic creation 'Drunken Pilot' that for me is more a sound collage fitting the lyrics than anything else. And concluding the album we have one more item that nods back to the past of Sky Cries Mary, but here paired with a more intense, 70's Hawkwind style bass driven energetic take on psychedelic rock and space rock. "Secrets of a Red Planet" strikes me as a fine comeback album and a good way for the band to kick off the next phase of their existence. A bit rough around the edges, maintaining some of their core traits while also arguably moving closer to what relatively traditional improvisation based space rock bands are doing. Hence fans of space rock bands as outlined as well as existing Sky Cries Mary fans strikes me as a likely key audience for this band as of 2020.