LANDFALL – Wide Open Sky

• RELEASE YEAR: 2025
• BAND URL: https://www.instagram.com/landfallband/

Brazilian melodic hard rockers Landfall impressed me greatly with their spirited and energetic debut offering titled The Turning Point (2020) as it contained plenty of catchy tracks delivered with a sense of class and youthful vigor. The follow-up from 2022, Elevate, was a bit of letdown as it lacked those big, juicy hooks and memorable qualities that its predecessor possessed. Their third opus named Wide Open Sky came out a couple of months ago and sees the talented quartet at the top of their game, and the record feels rather mature and confident in all areas. The songs benefit greatly from the superb vocals courtesy of Gui Oliver, but the crunchy production envelops the material in a great and atmospheric sound, and the riffs leave little to be desired and are a real treat to the ears. More than anything, Wide Open Sky shows more depth and variety than any of its two predecessors did, and the playing throughout is magnificent. From epics to punchy rockers and further on to 80s-flavored ballads, the disc marks the group’s finest work to date and is a rewarding listen.

Perhaps because the output comes across as such a potent and focused effort, it feels both new and familiar somehow; it is undoubtedly the work of Landfall, but they sound better than before and have evolved as a band and as songwriters. An indispensable little gem for fans of the genre.