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When Vision Divine started back in 1998 most thought that Vision Divine is a side-project of Labÿrinth Olaf Thörsen and Rhapsody's Fabio Lione. They released 2 albums and toured successfully. In 2003 Fabio Lione had to take his leave as Rhapsody's schedule was too tight for him to continue with Vision Divine. Line-up changes and more albums followed. In the band's 10th anniversary Fabio Lione joined Vision Divine for a show - and returned to the band! The new Vision Divine album is also the comeback of Fabio Lione.
With a lengthy intro part the Italians lead in the opening track Letter To My Child Never Born, but that's okay, coz the track is almost 9 minutes long. So it takes almost 2 minutes til singer Fabio Lione joins in, the song is an epic melodic metal tune which spontaneously reminds me of Helloween (Keeper's era)... The tune is a good opener, coz it can hook you up with it's refrain. The middle part is a slow, slightly symphonic part which enchants you with its emotional vocals. Then they speed up again and present a neo-classical guitar part with heavy riffs and a soaring keyboard melody. Usually its better to choose a short track to open up, but in this case the long track works. The keyboard of Alessio Lucatti leads you into Violet Loneliness, but right from the start he's accompanied by heavy, sharp riffs. The vocals - and partly the keyboard - give this one a melancholy touch... The symphonic part with violins gives you a little break, but they speed up again. The following Fading Shadow is very heavy, even if the keyboard takes off the edge a bit. Then a break and a slow passage featuring the vocals, before they push again. The vocal line sounds partly a bit like taken from a Conception tune, but I can't fathom it.... Somehow they follow this scheme... using heavy riff-based parts, slowing down when the vocals set in and then speed up again for an instrumental part. But I don't mind it, coz so the singer has more space to shine - a good example is Angels In Disguise. But then they surprise the listener with The Killing Speed Of Time which is ultra heavy and aggressive - for a band like Vision Divine - and even has a thrash part! But then there are slower passages with the highly melodic vocals of Fabio. Cool guitar solo, even if the vocal part afterwards is a bit too repetitive. But definitely a song I didn't expect from the Italians! Next in line is The Street Of Laudomia and this is more what you expect from them - fast melodic metal, but spiced up with some progressive elements. Quite heavy riffs kick off Out In Open Space, but it isn't a guitar-driven tune. They toy around with heavy riffs, symphonic keyboards, slow parts and a bombastic refrain. The title track starts slowly, reduced to keyboard and vocals and becomes a touching balladesque tune. Later in the song there are some spoken words combined with a kind of operatic singing, but then they explode! Towards the end the song becomes a heavy, but symphonic power tune - for awhile, then back to the opening theme. The last song Touch Of Evil is even heavier then anything on this album! Pure symphonic power metal with a heavy punch! An interesting version of the Judas Priest classic! Last, but not least they offer a demo version of Fading Shadow - which shows the song a little different. And I wonder, if the cover and the demo version are bonus tracks a limited edition or digipack, unfortunately I have no information about this. Sorry!
A very cool symphonic melodic metal album which offers different sounds and elements. Especially The Killing Speed Of Time surprised me. Good to have Fabio Lione back in the band - and well done!
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