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Vanishing Point
In Thought (1999)
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| Reviewer: lach (96) |
After discovering progressive metal about ten years ago, I remember being quite surprised when I found that there were a few Melbourne bands participating in the genre. After a couple of weeks I stumbled across this album and figured that I'd give it a shot. I'm quite glad that I did, Vanishing Point's debut album is a very good one. A lot of people lump VP into the "Progressive Metal" category, but I'd probably lean them more towards Melodic-Metal. This works in the bands favour, as they are quite good at ripping out (relatively) simple, enjoyable and fun metal. Singer Silvio Massaro has a nice middle-range voice, something which is quite enjoyable to hear in comparison to some other helium-inspired vocalists. He's still capable of hitting the high notes, and does so when neccesary. It's nice to hear someone intelligently putting their vocals to good use. Another thing that distinguishes VP's sound is that their keyboards are very forward in the mix, but they're not your usual air-fairy sounds. Heavy, distorted and different, which is something that I haven't heard much of before, and it works well. The band have a rather large line up of drums, bass, two guitars, keyboards and a vocalist! For such a large setup the band pull it off very well. Opening track "The Only One" is a catchy, memorable tune (and somewhat reminds me of Dream Theater's Metropolis Part I), and "Inner Peace" is another favourite. A very good album for a local Melbourne band! |
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Tangled In Dream (2000)
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| Reviewer: lach (96) |
A new year, a new album, and step forward for Vanishing Point. Before this album was released I had the pleasure of seeing Vanishing Point at a few local venues; The Tote, Edwards Tavern (great gig) and at the Espy. I was surprised and impressed that their songs sounded much better live than on CD. It's always a bummer when a band is let down by production values - so check out the band if you get a chance. Tangled In Dream starts with opener "Surreal" and it's another great memorable song from VP. With a very nice instrumental middle break, interesting rhythms and harmonised guitars, the song is another great production from VP. The album continues along the same vein. A very big sounding musical spectrum with lots of nice singable melodies. Opening track is a fav, as well as the epic "Never Walk Away". There's also a very nice ballad, "The Real You" that they have pulled off wonderfully. I have a few criticisms of the album, but nothing that really ruins my enjoyment of the CD, I would just consider them to be possible future improvements. Occasionally some of songs start to sound a bit samey, I feel like there could be a bit more variety in there. This might have something to do with having 6 band members and everyone wants to always play their bit :) Sometimes a bit of space would be nice! But these are minor distractions from a great CD. Melodic metal completely without any cheese - nice. |
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