Vision Divine is one of those bands that took me a long time to get acquainted with. More to do with money and time constraints, than with quality from their side by the way. But allright, the time has come to dive into their 2009 release 9 Degrees West Of The Moon. First question is how to tag this music. Is it heavy metal with progressive overtones, power metal, or? Something like that anyway.
Singer is Fabio Lione, who I think is also part of the (also Italian) Rhapsody crew. The rest of the names did not ring many bells, though I think I heard the name of guitar player Olaf Thörsen before. What I find strange is that the latter is responsible for the concept of the album, but is not mentioned as a writer. Or he uses a pseudonym?
The album starts with the epic Letter To My Child Never Born, with almost 9 minutes the longest track on offer. Which is as progressive as it gets I think. From flashy metal pieces full of solos, to quiet piano parts with singing, it is all there. The singing is as expected, full of drama. Harmonies are a bit choir like, which sounds better than you´d think. What you hear in this band is a piano line over the rhythm guitars, introducing the melody. Somehow that creates openness not always present in this type of “busy” music. I am sure producer Timo Tolkki (former Stratovarius mastermind) knows how to handle that type of stuff ;-).
All in all a pleasant addition in this genre. Lots of melody and dynamics, good band!
