After over 18 months of hectic touring, Melbourne metal outfit, Storm The Sky are taking a short break over Christmas in preparation for what is sure to be a huge year for the band, which kicks off in January with the release of their debut studio album.
“We’ve taken the Christmas break to lay low for that time and see the family before a big year,” says vocalist, Will Jarratt. “The end of January we jump on the road with Chiodos and the only thing other than that is Unify festival before we jump back on the road, so it’s a pretty open month focussing on the album release.”
The new album, ‘Permanence’ not only sees Will take a commanding creative lead in the songwriting and recording processes, but is also a fairly risky financial gamble for a fledgling band in an already overcrowded genre. “We completely self-funded a trip to America all out of our own bank,” Will explains. “That was probably the hardest thing any of us have had to do and we worked really hard to do that. That set us apart from other bands who don’t really go for it until they’re signed or have an advance that gets them over there.”
Storm The Sky formed in 2011 out of several Melbourne-area jam bands and with the addition of Will’s clean melodic lines complementing co-vocalist, Daniel Breen’s distinctively metal screaming, they have gone on to become one of Australia’s hardest working metal acts. After recording two EPs (their self-titled debut and sophomore, ‘Vigilance’), Will says the band, and he particularly, were focussed on crafting ‘Permanence’ to the highest professional standards. 
“I think the biggest difference with recording ‘Permanence’ to ‘Vigilance’ was we did a lot of proper, professional pre-production. It really helps to not do something on 'Guitar Pro' and it sounds like a tinny Nintendo game and then you find out what it actually sounds like in a studio and you’ve already paid the money to be there. It helped to workshop the songs as we went and know exactly what they were going to sound like before we went to America. That’s something we’ll definitely keep doing on future records and we’re even hoping to release some B-sides in the next album that didn’t make the cut.”To record and produce the album, Storm The Sky worked with Arizona producer and owner of Chango Studios, Cameron Mizell, whose previous production work includes Memphis May Fire and Sleeping With Sirens. “It was almost a no-brainer,” Will says of working with Mizell. “It suited our sound and we wanted to try something he hadn’t done before, that we hadn’t heard before and try to be more alternative and indie and atmospheric instead of just the straight metalcore that we used to look into.”
With ‘Permanence’, Will is hoping to take Storm The Sky up the echelons of the metal scene and evolve their sound by imparting more of his own creative style and incorporating influences from outside the metal genre. “We’ve got a couple of songs on the record I’ve 100% written myself and it’s definitely leading towards more freedom vocally for me, leading towards that kind of sound: a lot more atmospheric and [an] almost alternative rock vibe in parts.
"That’s just what comes into writing a full album is you’ve got the freedom to not just write five hard-hitting songs that are going to sell. That’s what you do with an EP, where you have to have five songs that are going to do well and be heavy and in your face so they catch the listener’s attention, otherwise you just get brushed off. Whereas with an album there are aspects where you can lean back and create something that’s a lot more overall a journey, instead of just heavy songs.”Storm The Sky support Chiodos on their upcoming tour as well as playing Unify in Gippsland, 10-11 January. ‘Permanence’ is out 16 January.
Storm The Sky Tour Dates
Thurs 29 Jan – The Hi-Fi (Brisbane)Fri 30 Jan – Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 31 Jan – Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Sun 1 Feb – The Brisbane Hotel (Hobart)
Tues 3 Feb – Fowlers Live (Adelaide)
Wed 4 Feb – Amplifier Bar (Perth)
