Pushing the chemistry to the next level - A review of Visions of Atlantis' Wanderers

I will start my review of Visions of Atlantis' Wanderers with a little anecdote. This summer, a friend of mine played a power metal playlist on Spotify and made me guess the different bands. I'm usually quick to recognize metal bands but there are so many female-fronted symphonic power metal bands out there, that it's impossible to keep track of them. Whenever there was a band whose identity was oblivious to me in the playlist, I would randomly take Visions of Atlantis as a guess. Funnily enough, my guess was right at a certain point. Why did I pick this band to guess obscure female-fronted symphonic metal bands and not Battle Beast, Beyond the Black or Within Temptation? The main difference is that these bands have their own distinctive styles while Visions of Atlantis doesn't. That isn't necessarily a bad thing because I would easily prefer Visions of Atlantis's more generic but solid brand of female-fronted symphonic power metal over Batlle Beast's bland flirts with pop music of the eighties, Beyond the Black's one-man project ripping off Evanescence and the likes or Within Temptation's somewhat tame tearjerkers of late. However, Visions of Atlantis doesn't play in the same league as genre leaders like ambitious and epic Nightwish, creative and progressive Edenbridge or dynamic and vibrant Epica.

The quintet's new record might overstay its welcome with a running time of sixty-two minutes on the Japanese version of this release but the album sounds more coherent, fluid and inspired than immediate predecessor The Deep & The Dark which was a little bit too nostalgic and predictable. The band sound is best compared to Nightwish's era with pop-influenced lead singer Anette Olzon. Sadly, the music is missing the epic inspiration of Dark Passion Play but has the diversity of Imaginaerum.

The record's first three songs expose the band's stylistic boundaries best. ''Release My Symphony'' isn't only by far the longest tune on the new record but also the best by a mile. It's a cinematic, diversified and epic symphonic metal masterpiece with great use of classical instruments, efficient guitar riffs, vibrant rhythm section and a balanced combination of angelic female lead vocals and melodic male vocals. The song entertains from start to finish without any lengths and invites to press the repeat button right away. This is certainly one of the best songs in the band's career and one can only encourage the quintet to explore its epic, inspired and progressive soundscapes further.

''Heroes of Dawn'' heavily flirts with Celtic folk instrumentation in form of enchanting flute sounds recalling new age elements. The male vocals sound even more emotive than in the opener and harmonize very well with the soaring female lead vocals. The chorus manages to be catchy without being bland. This is the perfect single candidate. The band should use even more folk sounds in the future since this experiment works particularly well on this album highlight.

''Nothing Lasts Forever'' is on the softer side with melancholic piano sounds and decently employed string sounds underlining fragile but beautiful female lead vocals backed up by equally melodic and soaring male vocals in the beautiful chorus. These roles are inverted in the second part of the song and show how skilled both vocalists are and that they already have great chemistry on their first studio record together. The guitar solo in the last third is a highlight on the album and certainly makes this one of the most inspired ballads in the band history.

These opening three songs are easily the best ones on the album and while the ten or eleven songs that follow aren't bad either, they can't equal the inspiration of the opening trio. The band repeats itself at times, the songs slowly become more and more exchangeable and the record's second half loses so much steam that it becomes almost dull. If the band had placed its three album highlights better and focused on only eight or nine tunes in total, Wanderers could be a candidate for best record the band has ever released and symphonic metal release of the year alike. As it is now, only the absolutely gorgeous cover artwork might compete for highlight of the year along with Stratovarius' Talviyo.

Visions of Atlantis has the chemistry, creativity and talent to become one of the best symphonic metal bands out there if the quintet focuses on its strengths and keeps a stable line-up over the next few years. Wanderers certainly is a big step in the right direction and should already appeal to genre fans. One should definitely keep this now international band that once entirely hailed from Austria on the radar for future endeavors.

Final rating: 80%