So like I promised, let’s dive some deeper into too often uncharted territory. As I’ve hinted at in my previous post, and as you can read to whatever extent and depth you wish after a quick googling, Voyager is a five member (no “men”, for they also feature the gifted Simone Dow at guitar) band from Australia. The country/continent has witnessed quite a bloom of pretty talented heavy metal acts starting from the late nineties, and Voyager‘s voyage starts up right on the brink of the 00′s. What shouldn’t surprise by now is that such bands are more times than not met with well-deserved success even across the seas, and i mean here in ol’ Europe as much as in the Americas. Still, the path to large scale success is steep and clogged by many household names that often don’t come even close to deserving it – at the expense of bands like, well, Voyager.
I must be honest here and confess the first thing coming to my mind when I first heard them (and this album was Voyager‘s first I listened to) was: whoa, another great melodic metal act from Australia! If, and I’m afraid only if you’re acquainted with the genre and like it, will you most likely immediately think of Vanishing Point. I’ll put it plain and simple, ’cause I realise the comparison’s getting redundant: the similarities between the bands are striking, but in a way neither is nowhere close to being the other’s clone. This is probably as simple as because they hail from the same country, they share the same kind of background, they happen to play the same genre and they both do it very good, both technically and as far as personality and originality are concerned.
As I stated before, Element V is the best example in Voyager‘s not yet as deep discography to point out what they’re capable of. Simply put, they manage to create a blend of a few ingredients I definitely favour in (metal, but not only) music: well constructed melodies; a perfect blend of symphonically bond instruments; a strong multi-faceted voice that can manage different registers, all equally well; and a deep, wrapping sound that can keep you musically and even emotionally involved throughout a whole record.
As to the album’s structure, here’s probably one of the reasons Element V even stands out within Voyager‘s own discography: the musical progression is sort of an ebb and flow, starting with a pretty classical intro (long and well structured enough in its turn to stand apart from the irritating thirty-second intros too many albums start off with) which sets the tone for the first full track, the strong To The Morning Light. A feature this song shares with the later Monument is a keyboard-driven start, which might remind you of Artension and the likes. No wonder Monument also kicks off after sort of a short intro, Miseria, placed about in the middle of the album. This kind of divides the music flow into two big “movements”, making the listening easier and (which i personally like very much) more of a journey-like experience.
Pretty much all of the songs stand out on their own, thanks to the aforementioned strong and ever original melodies, ranging from fast keyboard progressions to catchy choruses and verses (one of my personal favourites will have to be the Eleventh Meridian‘s, which is sung in perfect German!), so that it’s hard to pick a favourite – though I do have mine of course, both melody- and overall atmosphere-wise, and they’d be the tracks i mentioned so far.
The general feeling, also thanks to the lyrics’ overall theme, is that of an enchanted journey, with hints at epicness but without grandeur or solemnity. Voyager manage to keep it all cool and within the boundaries of a particularly strong AOR or, if you will, melodic heavy metal. It’s also no wonder they point out themselves, on the online bio to be found on their website, the links they have with 80′s rock, obviously metalised and decidedly brought into the 21st century. Such bonds account for their attention to melody and overall polishedness of the sound; whereas tracks like Cosmic Armageddon (both part 1 and 2) bring their power metal side to the surface. The result’s a powerful mixture of epic atmospheres neither lacking speed and power nor a touch of thoughtfulness and peace where needed.
THUS SPAKE THE CENNSOR: To kind of wrap it up, Element V is a little manna for all lovers of melodic metal, as much as a grand introduction to the band’s following works, which never go far from the wonderful premises of this album, although they don’t sum them up quite as well as this record does. To go listen to it would most likely mean doing yourself a nice favour. 8/10
As much as I’d love to relent on my hate towards bands and albums that didn’t quite turn out as I wished them to, I thought I’d rather give it a break before I got carried away (’cause believe me, there’s a lot more coming) and focus on something I do like instead.
