REVIEWS ARCHIVE - V |
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V/A "Best Of Both Worlds - tribute to Van Halen" (MTM - provided by Target Distribution) - ? out of 5 points - |
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With this record I could start list up a some of the famous names that appears on this record, so that is what I intend to do, here goes nothing for the next few lines: George Lynch (DOKKEN, LYNCH MOB), Jimmy Crespo (AEROSMITH, ROD STEWART), ENUFF ZNUFF, Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER), Tony Harnell (TNT) and Steve Whiteman (KIX). Beside that I could mention Richard Kendrick whom have been working together with bands such as: AEROSMITH, GUNS N' ROSES, OZZY OSBOURNE Band, SMASHING PUMPKINS, BADLANDDS, DOKKEN, L.A GUNS, DANGEROUS TOYS, ROUGH CUTT, QUEENSRYCHE, LYNCH MOB, NIGHT RANGER, TNT, FAITH NO MORE, TUFF, RATT, LOVE HATE, KANSAS, QUIT RIOT, and KILLS FOR THRILLS. That should be about it? Well it is a bit hard to know what to write? But one thing is sure that the some of the artists, doesn't know how to hail a guitar legend, and some even does it better. But it sure is nice to hear some of the old tunes again when a Rock Star was Rock Star :-)
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Benjamin
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V/A
"Cover It Up, Volume 2" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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A double disc of metal bands doing cover-tunes of everything from The Doors to Bronski Beat, from Sandra to Rolling Stones … do we need this? Probably not, but it sure makes for a really special 2 hour listening session. Starting out with The Kovenant's industrial-black metal version of Babylon Zoo's "Space Man", the disc is already off to an interesting start. There are 33 tracks on this disc-set, so I'm not gonna mention all of them, but for my taste the most interesting ones are; "Sympathy For The Devil" (Rolling Stones) covered by Tiamat, "Cornflake Girl" (Tori Amos) covered by Tapping The Vein, "In The Heat Of The Night" (Sandra) covered by To/Die/For, "Temple Of Love" (Sisters Of Mercy) covered by Crematory, "Small Town Boy" (Bronski Beat) covered by Paradise Lost, "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak) covered by H.I.M. and "Don't You Forget About Me" (Simple Minds) covered by Life Of Agony. Okay, we've heard many of those covertunes before, as most of them has been released on other releases earlier on, but to have them all collected like this is quite fun. Of course there are a few horrible ones that we could easily have lived without (such as Umbra Et Imago covering Falco's "Rock Me Amadues" or Angelzoom's version of the Linkin Park song "Crawling"), but overall it's a damn interesting concept Nuclear Blast here has come up with, and although I probably won't be listening to the entire disc-set again anytime soon, I do love some of the covertunes … some even more than the originals.
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Claus
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V/A
"Fenriz Presents … the best of old-school black metal" (Peaceville - provided by VME) - ? out of 5 points - |
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With only 16 songs at hand it's impossible to please every black metal fan, but Fenriz (from Darkthrone) is doing his best with this compilation of the old-school black metal that has impressed him the most throughout time. Okay, it's not all of this that I would categorize as black metal, but I will give Fenriz the credit for including some of those acts that definitely had a big impact on what would later become black metal (Sodom, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Destruction, Samael,Venom, Hellhammer) on this compilation that also includes true black metal acts (Mayhem, Bathory, Burzum, Aura Noir, Nattefrost) and more obscure acts (Blasphemy, Sarcofago, Tormentor, Bulldozer). This CD leaves me with just two questions; How come Fenriz missed out on Possessed, and how come he chose not to include any of his of Darkthrone material?
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Claus
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V/A
"Gigantour - Live 2-CD Set" (Steamhammer/SPV - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Live CD's are not my cup of tea normally, but as this is a gathering of some of the real big shots within the business, you get a diversity that is helping the digestion of such a disc a lot. The bands featured on the album(s) are: Megadeth, Dream Theater, Anthrax, Fear Factory, Life Of Agony, Nevermore, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex, where some bands are performing like gods and others are dead boring. Nonetheless, these 2 albums are a really great statement of the performances that took place on the Gigantour. You are left with a general feeling of wanting to have been there and that is what a live disc is all about. The production is absolutely great, which tells me that quality equipment has been used to record the performances. To conclude: If you were among the audience, you absolutely need to buy this. If you are a fan of 3 or more bands, featured, you need to check it out and if you are a sucker for live albums, you'll not be disappointed. Buy.
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Lars
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V/A "Order Of The Tyrants - Celtic Frost Tribute" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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There's been quite a few Celtic Frost tribute's released over the past decade, and although there's no denying how important the band is in the grand scheme of death, gothic and black metal, I honestly feel that there's absolutely no need for another rehash of the true classix of C.F. - especially not when it's done by such 4th rate black metal acts as on this tribute CD I'm now holding in my hands. Seriously, are there ANYONE out there who thinks that Grief Of Emerald, Naer Mataron, Order Of The Ebon Hand, Astarte or Carrier Flux has any interest whatsoever for old school C.F. fans, let alone the youth of today? Nope, didn't think so either. The only aspects worth of interest in this disc lies within the performances of Dimmu Borgir, Akercocke, Marduk and Acheron. The rest of the bands belong on the cemetery underneath a sign saying "used, abused and left to rot!" - Celtic Frost were great when they were on top of the game, but this tribute isn't anything but a cash-in attempt from the record label and a stepping stone for some small unknown bands who want a piece of the attention. Forget about it …
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Claus
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V/A "Legends Of Rock - Live At Castle Donnington" (Steamhammer / SPV - provided by Nordic Metal) - no points possible - |
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Uli Jon Roth with his "all star" band live, including Michael Schenker, Clive Bunker, Phil Mogg, Pete Way ,Don Airey ....hmmm, ain't got much to say - don't like this get-together-who-can-still-walk bands - it could just as well be named UFO and friends. You have to be a devoted fan, or have been there to enjoy this. God old well-known material "jammed" by the legends.
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Erik
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V/A "Metal Dreams Vol. 5" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - ? out of 5 points - |
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There is no question that metal artists are some of the absolute best composers when it comes to making ballads. At least in my opinion. But what I don not understand is the reason to make a metal ballad compilation. I mean, there is a reason that metal is called metal, and it is not to spend 75 minutes listening to oh so sad, sad songs. It is okay on an album to have one or two ballads, but 15 tracks are over the top. The only uplifting about Metal Dreams Vol. 5 is track 7 where Soilwork perform their "Departure Plan", which, I guess, is supposed be the "ballad" on their latest release, but, still, it is not a real ballad due to the aggressive chorus. Also Vanden Plas' "Healing Tree" brings a little smile on my face as it contains some very beautiful and emotional keyboard- and guitar solos. Helloween is also represented on Metal Dreams, but not with a ballad. Instead they deliver nothing more than what you would expect from this great band; power metal in the vein of…Helloween :-) Sure all the bands on this compilation are great metal bands (except from perhaps U.D.O. and Doro), it is just a shame that one would get the wrong impression of the bands if you have not heard any of them before. But I guess Metal Dreams would suit very well as a present for an open minded pop/rock enthusiast.
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Martin J
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V/A
"Numbers From The Beast - An All Star Salute To Iron Maiden" (Restless - provided by VME) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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It doesn't get more ridiculous than this!! Take musicians like: Dee Snider, Chuck Billy, Jeff Scott Soto, Paul Di'Anno, Ripper Owens, John Bush, Mark Slaughter, Michael Schenker, Nuno Bettencourt, Vinnie Appice, Scott Ian, Mike Inez, Paul Gilbert, Rocky George, Alex Skolnick, John Tempesta, Doug Aldritch, Mikkey Dee and a lot of others. Tell them all that they have to perform on a certain Iron Maiden song, and then you make the musicians do their shit one by one after some obscure clicktracks, not making the musicians meet up with each other, and you got this album. All these musicians should be a brand of class and high quality just by their names. Unfortunately, none of the singers do a better job than Bruce D. None of the guitarists do a better job than Adrian, Dave or Jannick for that matter. None of the drummers or bass players do anything to live up to Nicko McBrain or Steve Harris. This sucks BIG TIME. It is out of tune, tempo and REEKS of making money by adding a lot of names to a fake and utterly bad product. FUCK OFF!
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Lars
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V/A "Rock The Bones" (Frontiers Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - no points possible - |
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You get a lot of quantity here .. 2 CD's with 34 tracks, 34 bands .. Rock, melodic metal .. whatever you call it. Crowded together in the space between Toto and Deep Purple followers. Somehow its too much and too little - only one track/band so you don't get an idea of the band if you seek new areas of interest, and still 34 tracks .. a pure marathon .. I would rather like to make my own compilations, and have the real CD's from the bands. As a free teaser it would be nice .... hehehe ... ok ok, you wonder who is on .. here are a few .. Jeff Scott Soto, Ten, Hardline, Harem Scarem, Mark Boals, John West ...
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Erik
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V/A "Frog Pest Fore - MC Sampler 2002" (Magna Carta - provided by MNW) - no points possible - |
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It's always hard to review a sampler CD with various artists, and FPF! is no exception. FPF! contains progressive music in virtually every way you can think possible. From melodic to fusion progressive, from classical to almost avant-garde progressive metal. Some great musicians, vocalists and bands feature this cd like Trent Gardner, Shadow Gallery, Jordan Rudess, Andy West, James La Brie and Steve Morse Band just to mention a few. So in general, this is an okay CD to buy to get inspiration and perhaps broaden your horizons within the progressive metal scene.
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Martin J
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V/A "A Return To Fantasy - tribute to Uriah Heep" (Century Media - provided by Target Distribution) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Ahhh yeah, the annual collection of bad renditions of horrible tunes by a band noone ever liked anyway, performed by bands who'll never amount to anything - or to put it in other words; a tribute CD to one of the has-beens of hard rock done by small/medium-sized metal bands and released by a record label obviously in more need of having a flow of releases than focusing on quality (at least if this album is the standard to judge by). Okay, let's be fair for a moment, shall we? I never liked Uriah Heep - I found them a poor man's version of Deep Purple with a more metal edge to some of their tunes, and a really fucked-up pretentious way of trying to sound pompous. On this tribute to Uriah Heep we find bands such as Narnia, Tad Morose, Sacred Steel, Angel Dust and Easy Livin', and incredibly enough, not ONE of those bands creates anything interesting to listen to. The only positive things on this disc would have to be Nightingale's version of "Stealin'" and partly Lana Lane's "Weep In Silence". The worst? Onward and Metalium for having such bad vocalists that it makes yesterday's dinner re-arriving in my mouth. Goddamnit, those singers are bad. Well, with all that being said, I probably never should have reviewed this album, but you know, I couldn't really pass on such a chance of mocking this disc, since I've always disliked Uriah Heep so much :-)
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Claus
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VALENTINE
"The Most Beautiful Pain" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I must give credit to Dutch singer/songwriter Robby Valentine for trying out something original with his very melodic hard rock. It's not every day we hear a band mixing AOR, melodic hard rock and Queen-like pomp-rock this well. The only other bands I can come to think of are Danish band Baal and dutch multi-musician Valensia (with whom Valentine earlier on have made 2 project-albums). Forget all about the clichee-ladden pomp-fun of The Darkness - this is the real deal. Robby is a great vocalist, with a voice that switch beautifully between the sleazy (almost Stephen Pearcy like) tone to the more laid-back (Freddie Mercury anyone?) singing style. Listen to the song "Magical Moments" where Robby sings about his childhood love for Queen and you'll totally understand where this guy is coming from. "The Most Beautiful Pain" is one of those albums that might be told off as being too cheesy, but if you look underneath the glam and poseur surface you'll find a deeper and quite intelligently composed hard rock disc with just the right amount of references to one of the best rock bands ever, Queen.
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Claus
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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VANDEN PLAS
"Christ 0" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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I've never understood why people praise Vanden Plas as one of the so-called best European prog metal bands. I mean, we have so many other, way better, (not to mention more "progressive" in the true sense) acts over here to be proud of, than this German Dream Theater-light wannabe. Seriously, the band consists of great musicians, and have a singer with a good range and a not-so-horrible-German-accent, they write nice melodies, memorable hooklines, always have a crystal clear production on their albums … and always bores the hell out of me. "Christ O" is no difference in that department. With the exception of "The God Thing", none of the VP discs have interested me the slightest and a conceptual disc about the Count of Monte Christo ain't gonna bring me anything but sleep … probably well-deserved after having listened to this.
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Claus
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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VANDEN PLAS
"Christ 0" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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At last! Vanden Plas fans have been awaiting this album for 4 long years. Four years during which other prog metal bands released 2 or even sometimes 3 albums! So the expectations are extremely high, as the German quintet proved they were an extremely good band with their 6 excellent albums. So let me give you my progmetal musician feelings about this disc. First of all, we have the amazing Vanden Plas-trademark sound again. This band really has its own sound - not totally blowing up the rules of metal sound, but incredibly good and accurate. This is so important. You know you're never going to be disappointed by their powerful sound. Then concerning the songs itself - the whole album is proggy, metal, and scattered with orchestral arrangements, which is something brand new in Vanden Plas pragmatic progmetal world. The excellent keyboards parts by Günter Werno are more present than ever. And this is just great, because he seemed to be hidden behind guitars leading riffs on the previous albums. There are several emotional ballads and themes in "Christ 0". Vanden Plas shows both a tender and heavy progressive approach in this new album. However, except the orchestral and highly melodic composing, the songs structures aren't new or innovative at all compared with their previous compositions. Vanden Plas remains confined in the "intro - donwtempo verse1 - prechorus - catchy chorus - verse2 - prechorus - chorus - short instrumental part - chorus, etc…" structure. Riffs and themes are definitely wonderful, but actually I knew what I was going to listen to when I first played the disc. This is a regret. Their style is greatly mature, but I'd like them to push their music up to a craziest level. Their prog metal sounds shy to me. Anyway "Christ 0" is one of their proggest albums. Go buy it!
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Fred Colombo / keyboards in Spheric Universe Experience
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VENGEANCE
"Back In The Ring" (MTM Music - provided by Zink) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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These guys tried to make a comeback 7 or 8 years ago ("Back From Flight 19") which didn't go as well as hoped - so with the aptly titled "Back In The Ring", Vengeance are ready to give it another shot. And mind you, it's not a bad comeback by any standard - in fact it's quite good, and easily finds the album slipping in right besides the previous classics of the band ("Take It Or Leave It" or "We Have Ways To Make You Rock") - although it'll never reach the class of "Arabia", which will always stand as one of the best European hard rock albums of the 80's. Getting back to the subject of this new disc, and it's quite obvious that Leon Goewie and his men have decided to focus on the party atmosphere of the first few Vengeance discs, which means AC/DC meets Krokus with a hint of Accept-power here and there. Not bad for a night with the boys and a lot of beers …
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Claus
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VENOM
"Metal Black" (Castle Music / Sanctuary - provided by Target) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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How the mighty have fallen !!! Venom used to be one of my absolute favorite bands back in the day (feel free to laugh) - I totally loved the raw sound and energy found on albums such as "Welcome To Hell", "Black Metal", "Possessed" as well as the live disc"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". Those times are unfortunately long gone, and what we're left with is a band that have changed line-up more times over the years than I've changed my socks. Apparently it's Cronos (vocals/bass) who's the remaining member this time around … a weird statement, but considering that the 3 original guys, Cronos, Mantas, Abbaddon, have had several fights on who owns the band name, and all have had their own incarnations of the group, it's the only way I can say that this time it's Cronos alone with the band name and two new guys. Anyway, the music here is as far from the raw energy and full-on-attitude that the band once spawned as can get, and instead it sounds like a Motorhead-cover band made up of old people in a retirement home. There's not one single good riff, let alone one good song, on the album here, and if it didn't have the Venom logo and the horned goat on the cover, I wouldn't believe it had anything to do with Venom. Crap disc of the year!
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Claus
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VERNACCINI, RICCARDO
"… At Last!" (self-financed - provided by Riccardo Vernaccini) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Italian guitar player Riccardo Vernaccini is a really good guitarist - and as such, he has decided to record on his own an instrumental album consisting of 12 extremely boring songs. I've hardly ever spent an hour listening to such uninspired guitar-masturbation, since Joe Satriani began to suck after "The Extremist" in 1992. Come on, this stuff was outdated even before the first Satriani or Vai disc was ever released, it never had any interest (except for other guitar players who could sit there and say "hah, I can do that as well"), and it definitely doesn't make it any better to hear it performed on a life-less sounding demo CD in 2005, by a musician who think that he also knows how to play all possible instruments by himself, produce the disc and even program the drums (since when was programmed drums something to brag about in your info-sheet? Right - NEVER!). If anyone think that this shit is worth having, feel free to contact Riccardo at riccardovernaccini@alice.it - but just remember that I warned you.
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Claus
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VERTIGO
"2" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Put these 3 names together; Alex Masi, Virgil Donati and Joseph Williams - and you have a band made up of a worldclass guitarist, a worldclass drummer and a worldclass vocalist. Now, does the end product also hold worldclass? Nope! What these 3 guys ends up with is a standard product of American melodic "soft" rock / AOR not far from Toto, Journey or Survivor. Not really surprising that Vertigo can be found in this style (considering Joseph's previous band was Toto!), but it is quite surprising that it really isn't better than it is. There's not anything memorable to be found here, and even after several spins, I'm not finding anything really awesome about the songs. Great line-up, but a quite mediocre output.
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Claus
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VIA MISTICA
"Under My Eyelids" (Metal Mind - provided by Metal Mind) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Female fronted gothic doom metal with occasional male growls/clean vocals - or as some like to call it "Beauty & Beast Metal" - is a dangerous style to play. First of all, there's only a few bands who does it good enough to be counted with, which makes any new band an open target for the old game of "compare with and be weighted against". Secondly, IF you have a female vocalist, you better make sure that she can actually sing and hits the right notes, otherwise it's way too easy to pick on you and make fun. In the case of Via Mistica, the comparisons to old Theatre Of Tragedy, 3rd & The Mortal, Dreams Of Sanity, Tristania or old The Gathering are quite easy to make, especially since Kaska has that kind of stand-out clean girlie voice that we all have heard so many times before. However, there's a certain edge of originality to Via Mistica that makes me like what I hear - it might be the way that the very dark and doomy melodies are spiced up with the ultra-melodic guitar solos and the quite progressive drums/bass rhythm section. Now, the only problems I do have with this disc is the somewhat boring production, and that Kaska (while having that clean voice mentioned above) not always keeps in tune, and that lack of "control" makes the album seem a bit un-finished in my opinion. Nevertheless, a really good doom/gothic album, that we don't hear many of these days.
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Claus
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VILLA "Flow" (Drugs / Mighty Music - provided by MNW) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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This is some of the most original rock that has come out of Denmark since Kashmir's "The Good Life". Clearly inspired by bands like Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Incubus and bands of that kind of musicality, Villa does a decent job with their first full length cd, "Flow". It is actually kind of hard to put a label on Villa's musical style, but the closest thing would be melodic hard/stoner rock. Villa is quite capable of writing good melodies and adding the tough- and roughness that makes Villa differ from the rest of the commercially acclaimed pop and rock crap that Danish bands produce. Villa could easily go commercial and get air time in Danish radios and music TV programs and perhaps even become the heir to the Danish melodic rock throne that is currently possessed by Kashmir. I would not characterize Villa as being a metal band, but open minded progressive metal/rock lovers could easily be an audience for this band. In other words: I have heard a lot of shitty metal lately, and Villa is actually some of the better albums that have crossed my ears for the past 2-3 months. Still, I think that this is only a "phase" I'm going through, and a few weeks from now, I will forget about Villa, which is why I won't give "Flow" more than 2½ points. Unfortunate? Yes, I know, but that's me…
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Martin J
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VINTERSORG "The Focusing Blur" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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I just realized that I've had this album for 4 months now, without putting my review together. That in itself is embarrassing, but put on top of that, the fact that this is actually one of the albums I've listened to the most over these past month, you'll get a clear picture of how embarrassed I actually am. "The Focusing Blur" is simply put an amazing disc - Vintersorg is a band not afraid of trying out new things, a band intend on not sounding like anyone else, and a band with a very clear vision of how to "thought-provoke" their listener. What you find on this disc is MUSIC - it's not heavy metal, it's not rock, it's not progressive, it's not black metal, it's not jazz, it's not death metal - no, it's the conglomeration of all of it, that with today's standards of dividing anything into as many sub-categories as possible, leaves only one explanation; music.
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Claus
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VIRGIN STEELE
"Visions Of Eden" (T&T / Sanctuary Records Group - provided by Target) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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This album could have been so great, but it ends up being really really bad … Virgin Steele has created many a great headbanging moment for me in my life, starting out back in 1983 with their first 2 albums "Virgin Steele" and "Guardians Of The Flame" that got me hooked on the band. Later on, albums such as "Noble Savage", "Marriage Of Heaven And Hell", "Invictus" and "House Of Atreus" really kicked my ass with high energy power metal, somewhere in style between Manowar, Omen, Savatage and ehhh Manowar :-) With "Visions Of Eden" David DeFeis and his band of merry men have yet another pompous concept album ready for us, but what sets this one apart from all his other releases is the incredibly horrible production that totally ruins my listening experience. First of all the drums sounds like computers - I've seen the drummer state that it's because he works with e-drums, but come on … this IS a computer playing!!! The guitars … oh my oh my … there's not a single RIFF to be found on the album, instead we get a muttered guitar buried deep down in the mix. The vocals: well, David's way of singing has always been an aquired taste (one which I've always dug the hell out of :-)), but here it just stands out very alone and upfront. It honestly doesn't sound good to have the vocals placed so high in the mix and still so "bare". Now, I've read several places that David and the band insists on letting the world know that the record label sent out an early mix of the album to the media, but seriously, even with a better mix you can't save this from being the worst VS disc to date unless you suddenly bring POWER to the guitars, EFFECTS on the vocals and USE REAL DRUMS. Naah - "Visions Of Eden" is more like "Sounds From Hell"…
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Claus
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VIRGIN STEELE "Virgin Steele - remastered version" (Noise Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - no points possible - |
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At last on CD ! - The very first Virgin Steele. As my first Virgins steele album was Guadians of the flame, I really havnt any sentimental relationship with the first album as I heard it much later...... so for me this is a pretty funny record to listen to - is this where glam metal turns to powermetal? .. hahahahaha. This is really a must for Virgin Steele fans, others will have a laugh and the sound quality is despite remastering nothing to be proud of. There are 4 previously unreleased tracks.
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Erik
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VIRGIN STEELE "Guardians of the flame - remastered version" (Noise Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - no points possible - |
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At last on CD ! - This was the record where I discovered Virgin Steele, and from the commercial presentation I can see that i should have kept my old LP ... is that stuff really 250$ worth today ? ... well, probably not the one I had tortured with my killing pick up. The sound quality is a bit better than on the first Virgin Steele, but not really good. Now I'm even more happy for "The book of burning" where the new version of "The Redeemer" is soo much better than this old version with awful vibrato vocals... hehehe, sorry. But I'm really happy to have this artifact in the collection again.
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Erik
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VIRUS "Carheart" (Jester Records - provided by VME) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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"Members of the avant-garde metal band, Virus. You have been charged with the crime of being extremely weird in terms of making music. How do you plead"? "Guilty, Your Honor"! "Members of Virus. You have been charged with the crime of deliberately playing and singing completely out of tune. How do you plead"? "Guilty, Your Honor"! "Members of Virus. You have been charged with the crime of not giving me a fucking chance of describing what kind of music you actually play on "Carheart". How do you plead"? Guilty, Your Honor"! "Then I have no other option but to sentence you with a very low grade. You will only get 1 out of 5 points! Do you have anything to say before sentence is carried out"? "Yes we have your honor. We don't deserve 1 point"! "Then you shall receive only 0.5 points. Case dismissed".
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Martin J
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VISION DIVINE "Stream Of Consciousness" (Metal Blade - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Vision Divine (VD) is back with a new album and a new line up. The new line up is Matteo Amoroso (Ex-Athena) on drums instead of Mat Stancioiu, on keyboard Oleg Smirnoff (Ex-Eldritch) has joined instead of Andrew McPauls. Michele Luppi, who is in my opinion a great replacement compared to the style that they are playing, has replaced Fabio Lione. The music of VD is everything else than it used to be; melodies and technical parts have replaced the straightforward Power Metal. Olaf Thörsen, the mastermind behind Labyrinth and VD. has now decided to be a 100% focused on VD instead of considering it a side project. The new album shows that there has been spent more time on this album compared to their previous albums. The whole album is a concept album, which opens the question; What's the meaning of pushing ourselves so far away, beyond the limits of our human conscience - was it worth the price?" The only finger that I can put on this work of VD is the lack of balls that is missing; it is a bit too polished!
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Benjamin
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VISION BLEAK, THE "The Deathship Has A New Captain" (Prophecy Productions - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Does the term "Horror Metal" exists? If it does, The Vision Bleak definitely fits this description. I don't think I have ever heard music this much concentrated about death, doom and horror (without being black metal, of course!) I really can't describe what kind of metal this band plays. It has elements from the black metal genre, but then again it doesn't sound like black metal at all. For that "The Deathship Has A New Captain" has a much too ass-kicking and ominous sound and style. It is not death metal either … or power metal, or progressive metal. Maybe the closest musical style is "avant-garde metal with roots in the doom metal genre". There's no doubt that the music on this album is original, and for that the band qualifies for a top grade, but since this kind of strange music doesn't rock my boat, I give it my own personal grade - 1 out of 5 points.
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Martin J
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VISIONS OF ATLANTIS
"Cast Away" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Visions Of Atlantis (VOA) is what I would dare to describe as a new fresh approach to the Symphonic Metal scene in the same category as Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence! But one thing should be mentioned is that compared to the before mentioned bands is that they all have an expensive production, and VOA doesn't! This is very unfortunate as VOA has a lot of potential to be amongst the before mentioned bands. VOA is capable of delivering songs that are easy listening, without being over the edge! But yet again is very unfortunate for them that they are one of those who comes in the footprints of all of the other's. To put in another term the music that they deliver has been done before and therefore it doesn't become dangerous! I do believe that this band is one if those that you should have a close eye on! And for all Nightwish, please do not hesitate to make a good investment.
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Benjamin
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