Only Remotely Interesting for Newcomers - A Review of Vision Divine's Best Of

Vision Divine's blandly titled Best Of is a cheap attempt by its label earMUSIC to cash in. As a matter of fact, eleven out of these thirteen songs had already been published on the second disc of the limited digipak edition of previous studio album Destination Set to Nowhere. The other two songs are ironically taken from the regular version of that album. This means that you have all the material included here when purchasing the limited edition of the previous output.

That bland release strategy however doesn't change the fact that the material offered here is of excellent quality. The Italian sextet plays progressive power metal that shines most in atmospheric, creative and epic songs such as the wonderful ''The Fallen Feather'' and ''The Perfect Machine''. On the other hand, you have short, energetic and catchy tunes like ''New Eden'' and ''Destination Set to Nowhere'' that also work very well. A special shoutout goes to the excellent cover version of Savatage's symphonic metal milestone ''Gutter Ballet'' that truly does the original version justice and is performed with both passion and skills. It's important to note that the first ten songs from the first five studio albums have been recorded anew five years before this compilation was released and the tracks differ slightly from the original recordings. Faithful fans will certainly listen to these versions with much attention and note subtle interesting differences.

However, there are no old or new recordings honouring the band's good sixth studio record 9 Degrees West of the Moon. That album included some great shorter tracks such as power ballad ''Violet Loneliness'', the anthemic and uplifting ''Fly'' or the creative and playful epic ''Letter to My Child Never Born''. Another elements to criticize is that this greatest hits compilation is only sixty-seven minutes long and could have included two or three more songs to give new fans an even better idea of what this band sounds like.

As you can read, Vision Divine's Best Of is only interesting for new fans who have never previously listened to this band. However, I would even suggest these persons to purchase the limited version of previous studio album Destination Set to Nowhere instead. It's not unusual for a label to cash in on the success of a band that was previously on their roster and that's exactly what earMUSIC is attempting to do not only here but also in many other cases with shallow rerelease series that suddenly stop in the middle of nowhere. Vision Divine deserves much credit and is a creative, dynamic and playful band that is worth being discovered. earMUSIC on the other side is a lazy label that doesn't deserve the extra cash in the case of this uninspired compilation. Especially in times of popular streaming platforms, such a physical release has become rather unnecessary.

Final Rating: 50%