There’s no denying that Six By Six are worth the band to watch out for. I was taken by surprise after hearing their sole self-titled debut nearly three years ago and was amazed to see what Robert Berry will think of next by continuing his next voyage with fellow comrades Saga’s own Ian Crichton on guitar and Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler. And yet, they come back swinging with their follow-up album on the InsideOut label, Beyond Shadowland.
Doing a follow-up is quite an undertaking that the trio have embarked on. They worked around the second album throughout last year to bend, shape, caress, and hammer their own arrangements with darker elements, guitar-driven beats, prog, melodic, sonic, and pure metal to the forefront. And we ain’t talking about soft, soppy ballads that you would hear in the mid-to-late ‘80s with power balladry, we’re talking about a real kick in the gut that hits listeners with a massive, giant battering ram the trio have unleashed.
The electronic drumbeats that take place in the jungle, sets up with a higher place on metallic riffs, energetic vocals Berry has in his heart, and knowing survival is the key to get out of the arena on ‘Can’t Live Like This’. Now, if you think that Six By Six are paying nod to Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet-era on ‘Obiliex’, think again.
You have these harmonising keyboard string section which Berry creates to make this symphonic journey with acoustic tear drops on a loop, and howling bending frets to cry off into the night while proving themselves to delve into the darker worlds of what the future is about to be with ‘Titans’ as they reveal a chanting midsection that channels a bit of Harry Belafonte’s approach, featuring a middle-eastern atmosphere in the heart of Egypt.
Crichton returns to his AOR-era in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s admiration by switching from a classical to electric guitar, setting up the danger that awaits listeners throughout ‘Outside Looking In’. It has some nod to Kansas’ Audio-Visions album, and the opening track ‘Relentless’ that comes to mind when I was listening to it. Six By Six know their source material very well.
All of a sudden, the trio have transformed themselves into a post-punk band, honouring Oingo Boingo with an electronic view of the future on ‘Sympathise’, singing in the style of ‘Who Do You Want To Be’ before closing up shop with its metallic roots once more for ‘The Mission’ by bringing everything to an end in a NWOBHM approach with a nod to both Close to the Edge-era of Yes and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’.
Six By Six’s follow-up is a welcoming return to see the band have gotten enough tricks up their sleeve. And beyond that, they are a band of brothers that have a grip on what’s to come in the following weeks, months, and years to see what they’ll come up with next. And we’ve got to experience the Shadowland in all of its illustrated form.
