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It's shocking that The Vision Bleak has yet to become a household name in the United States yet given the music that this act performs. This German Gothic Metal two-piece mark their fourth studio full-length effort with Set Sail To Mystery, which seems like a somewhat cheesy Metal title, but suits the material found here very well. The best way to even begin to describe this release would be to say that Tim Burton himself would be proud, as some of these tracks could very well hit in one of this animated musical films, but with the metal band Moonspell heading the creative department on that for a far more epic sound. Considering this factor, it leads one to wonder why stores such as Hot Topic have yet to ram this album down our throats. Once again, The Vision Bleak bring a solid effort with this release, and it's a highly enjoyable experience that showcases some real talent, musically and vocally. As soon as the album starts up you are greated with the introductory track "A Curse of the Grandest Kind" which really focuses on the vocal performance then anything, slowly building more and more through the song, growing more and more epic sounding until it reaches it's climax and starts to drop down in octaves until the song reaches it's end to usher in "Descend Into Maelstrom", the first real heavy song off the album. At first, the vocals that you came across already won't quite seem to fit the music, but after a couple turns with this track, you'll see that it does work as well as the performance on the rest of the album. Sadly, this is the only track on here to really use any form of gutteral vocals outside the closing song "He Who Paints the Black of Night", and your first look at where the Moonspell influence comes in, with the next track, "I Dined With the Swans" showing off the Tim Burton feel of the album. The more you listen to some of the tracks on this album, these influences show through greater, but still bring an original feel to the album that many releases won't have. It's hard to find a song as epic and powerful as "A Curse of the Grandest Kind" on any Metal release today, and the third song "I Dined With the Swans" really brings a haunting, almost foreboding feel to it with it's powerful, somewhat operatic feel to it that fans of the film The Nightmare Before Christmas would expect to be performed by a mean Jack Skellington. After this point, the rest of the album seems to go in favor of the more atmosphere Metal approach that "Descend Into Maelstrom" brought to close out the album with exception of the track "Mother Nothingness (The Triumph of Ubbo Sathla)", which is a much slower moving, Sludge Metal-bordering track that sadly doesn't do much for the album but kind of ruin the established pace. This song would have been great had the music been a little heavier without as many parts where there's basically silence in the background to make it boring. The change of vocal style near the end is nice too, but sounds a bit distant compared to the other vocals on the album. The latter of the album does start to get a little bland after a while too. It's not that the material is all filler, but some tracks do start to lose the unique atmospheric feel that The Vision Bleak bring to the music, and start sounding more like copies of Moonspell's heavier material then anything. While the songs are still a good listen and won't really get old, it's the closing of Set Sail to Mystery that really picks things up. "The Foul Within" is just a heavier version of the last few tracks, aside "Mother Nothingness" and is just a lot more enjoyable to sit down and listen to it. The closing track, however, has that slight musical feel to it that "I Dined With the Swallows" had, at least during the chorus thanks to the way the vocals are performed and the accompanying keyboards and bell ringing sounds they also incorporate that also feeds into the aforementioned band mimickery. These two tracks also feature some very short background female operatic vocals that you could very well miss if you're not paying attention, except for the last few words sung on the last track due to them being at the very end when the music is starting to die down after a climactic burst to properly end the song. But no matter what, there's no denying that Set Sail to Mystery is a superb album. The band has a unique sound that is utilized in various levels throughout this album the brings songs that one would not normally hear on a Metal album in general, as well as utilizes it to create a very atmospheric sound that will sweep the listener up for most of the time. If the band had only composed more tracks through the album in the style of the first three, concentrating more on that atmosphere those songs presented, then this album would have the makings of a classic release. Sadly, this is not the case, and we are left wanting more from The Vision Bleak on their next release, both in good, as well as bad ways. If you haven't heard this album yet, or anything by The Vision Bleak, then make your next priority Set Sail to Mystery. You will not regret it. |
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