Vision Divine - Vision Divine

Year of Release: 1999
Label: Atrheia Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 56:24:00

This is the anticipated project of Fabio Lione (Rhapsody, Athena) and Olaf Thorsen (Labyrinth), previously known as Symmetry. The Symmetry demo has been floating around lately and for those who have that demo know that this is pure power/speed metal we are talking about. I was one of the lucky to get a hold of the demo and judging from the quality of the songs on the demo, I had great expectations for the full release.

So, now it's finally here. What we get here is slightly classically influenced power/speed metal, with big guitars, double-bass drumming, cool keyboard-solos and great vocals. While the music doesn't come close to Rhapsody stylistically, the music has more in common with fellow bands Labyrinth and Athena. Opener "New Eden" is a monster of a song with a chorus to die for. And there are also 4-5 more songs of this high caliber. Unfortunately all the songs don't have the same quality as the opener and they fall through. Actually, some of the songs are surprisingly average and uninspiring, having weak melody-lines and choruses. I would say half of the songs on this album are really great, while the remaining half is rather weak and in my opinion, fillers. While the musicians and the vocalist are excellent, it is the song-quality that is lacking this time around. The production is good, not of Rhapsody standard, but still good.

They are doing a version of Europe's "The Final Countdown" but the version comes off as much too similar to the original and Fabio is trying a bit too hard to sound like Joey Tempest. I feel they could have done much better by adding their own identity to the song.

Of course, the good songs alone make this an album worth getting, but overall I was a bit disappointed with the song-quality. I recommend the album to fans of the style, but solely for the good songs alone.

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
New Eden / On The Wings Of The Storm / Black Mask Of Fear / Exodus / The Whisper / Forgotten Worlds (Instr.) / Vision Divine / The Final Countdown / The Miracle / Forever Young / Of Light And Darkness

Musicians:
Olaf Thorsen - guitars
Fabio Lione - vocals
Mat Stancioui - drums
Andrew McPauls - keyboards
Andrea Tower Torricini ? bass

Discography:
Vision Divine (1999)
Send Me An Angel (2002)
Stream Of Consciousness (2004)
The Perfect Machine (2005)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin IT

Added: March 29th 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.visiondivine.com
Hits: 2410
Language: english