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Vision Divine > Stream of Consciousness > Reviews
Vision Divine - Stream of Consciousness

A highly relevant concept album. - 96%

hells_unicorn, October 23rd, 2006

Following Olaf Thorsen’s exodus from Labyrinth, an event that left that particular band in a state of musical confusion, this band became this Italian axe man’s primary focus. Thought at once to be merely a short-term side-project, something that is in contradiction to the power of their first 2 releases, Vision Divine has grown steadily from it’s inception back in 1998. This band’s own line-up was given a rather dramatic twist as Fabio Lione decided to concentrate completely on Rhapsody. Unlike with Labyrinth, however, this did not result in the decline of the band but in a rather amazing rebirth.

Not content to be limited to mystical themes alone, Olaf has taken some rather large steps in terms of subject matter, and injected a strong philosophical theme into this particular album. Unlike previous studio efforts, this is a rather intricate concept album that parallels the progressive and lyrical ideas put forth by such bands as Dream Theatre, Evergrey, and Fates Warning. It is necessary to separate the album’s concept from the music, as both are rather massive in scale and require specific individual attention.

The musicians currently in the fold are noteworthy as they have fueled the various changes in sound between this album and it’s predecessors. Michele Luppi is the most stand out person as his voice, which is a slightly lighter version of James LaBrie, is a complete departure from that of Lione’s flamboyant operatic style. Keyboardist Oleg Smirnoff really shines on this release as well, and proves to be an even better lead player than Labyrinth’s Andrea de Paoli.

Contrary to what other reviewers have stated, quite ignorantly I might add, this band is not driven by it’s keyboard lines. This may be true of some of the intros to a few of the tracks and the brief instrumentals, particularly “The Fall of Reason”, but this is hardly true of the majority of the album. High speed rockers such as “Colors of My World”, “Secret of Life”, “La Vita Fugge”, and even the quasi-ballad “Versions of the Same” are highly riff driven, particularly their intros. The guitars are louder in the mix than the keyboard tracks, Olaf’s riffs are both catchy and impressive, and the solos are riveting. I guess the thinking amongst this band’s detractors are that if your going to play metal, you shouldn’t have a keyboardist, which makes one wonder why they’d bother wasting their time to review a power/prog. album.

Although this album is best listened to all the way through without any skips, there are some rather amazing tracks on here that stand above the rest. “Colors of my World” is the hands down greatest track on here, you’ve got some amazing vocal acrobatics, and an extremely catchy chorus. “Out of the Maze” takes second place, mostly for another extremely memorable chorus and a healthy dose of speed in the drums. This one actually sounds like a bit of a joke directed towards Olaf’s former band, as he is now apparently “Out of the Maze”, while the remaining members are “Living in a Maze” according to one of their tracks on their 2003 self-titled album. “La Vita Fugge” has a great opening riff followed by a fairly straight forward set of power metal sections. My pick for best short instrumental is “The Fall of Reason” as it sounds quite similar to some of my favorite electronic bands, particularly early NIN. “Fool’s Garden” is another decent instrumental with a rather beautiful acoustic guitar line.

The concept of this album is basically a story about a man who is struggling with one of the most basic , yet often unexplainable questions of metaphysics, which is “what is the meaning of life“. His confusion is answered by a visit from his guardian angel, whom after recommending that he abandon his misguided quest, grants his wish and allows him to see through the eyes of God. The result is that the individual completely loses his mind and is committed to a mental asylum. The story is told in the past tense, and begins with the character hearing a song that reminded him of the experience, while alone in his cell. It ends exactly where it begins, only the angel appears to him again after the conclusion of the song, and asks him if his fruitless quest was worth the price of his sanity. Although the album ends with the question unanswered, the implication to the ending of the album is that the man dies and is given his peace of mind in the afterlife, at least insofar as the lyrics go.

One would wonder, what is the lesson that this album seeks to teach, because concept albums always have a central theme. Unlike the themes of the traditional power metal band, this theme has nothing to do with good verses evil in the literal sense, but the struggle that occurs within an individual person between his mind and his desires. A hint is given to the nature of the message of this album in some of the titles of the songs, particularly “The Fall of Reason”, “We are, We are not” and “Identities”. When we compare the obvious philosophical implications of these titles with the theological ones that are given by the presence of the angel, we find that the issue revolves around the nature of human identity, particularly its potency as well as it’s limitations.

The law of Identity is something that is implied in the metaphysics of Aristotle, and is combined with Christian theology in the writings of Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus. It states that a person’s identity is what defines his being, it is the unchangeable truth of one’s existence. In this particular respect man stands alone on this planet as the only being capable of comprehending his own identity and logically defining it. I am not sure if Olaf is a Catholic, and if so if he is of the Thomist persuasion, but this album carries many of the basic themes inherent in Aquinas’ views of theology.

Once we have established the law of identity, the next question is simple as it applies to any law, what are the consequences of breaking it? But before we can do this, we must consider the nature of man’s identity, what defines his capabilities? For the Aristotelian philosopher (which is the school I fall into), it is man’s capability of reasoning, which is categorizing phenomena by symbolic means in order to understand and differentiate between objects in the universe. In order to do this, one has to rely on axioms, which are given facts that are not to be questioned because they are self-proving. The most primary of all axioms is the cliché yet eternally true phrase “existence exists”. You can not rationally categorize anything, I don’t care how good of a liar you are, if you do not accept this as an absolute and unquestionable truth at some point in your thought process.

So now that we know what defines human identity, we know that there is only one way to violate our own identity, and that is to suspend reason and to suspend thought. And this is exactly what the individual in this story has done, he is not simply questioning, he is philosophizing about things that are so obvious that he is driven to insanity. The song title “We are, We are not” underscores the beginning of the man’s fall from sanity, as the basic laws of identity come crashing down and A becomes non-A. “Fool’s Garden” pretty much paints the beginnings of his madness, as he hallucinates about a paradise as the reward for the truth that he believes he has found. However, the law of identity is independent of the human mind, it doesn’t change because you can dream of a world without it, and “The Fall of Reason” is the rude awakening that the character receives when he realizes that the contradiction that he made in his own identity resulted in him not able to reason, and thus he is reduced to the paralyzing fear of an animal who is not gifted with the automatic instinct that non-reasoning animals contain vis-avis their own identity.

Where God plays into this is quite simple, for the rational/philosophizing Christian (I know we are a rarity nowadays, we always have been), God is the force that unites all the phenomena in the universe with the laws that govern it. For the Aristotelian Atheist, particularly the Objectivist, the universe is an uncreated collection of phenomena that are governed by laws that are universal independent of the consciousness of any entity. The only principle difference between these schools is the treatment of God and Faith, but the primary similarity is the way reason is treated, it is absolute and it is the only way for dealing with reality. The lyrical quote “There is so much left to say, but you do need a little faith” from track 7 pretty much addresses the nature of faith and reason, they are non-contradictory parallels that complement one another, but they are never to be confounded. And the primary way of confounding them is believing that you can go beyond the universe that you exist in, ergo you seek to prove faith through reason, and the result ultimately is a contradiction that will eventually lead to an endless process of circular reason.

In conclusion, I apologize for the long review but it was necessary to highlight the relevance of this album both musically and lyrically, and it is highly relevant. This is the best release put out by this band to date, and it gives other Progressive bands a good run for their money. I can highly recommend this album to bands of Dream Theatre, Fates Warning, and other bands of the progressive genre. Fans of power metal who are not totally attached to the usual themes of science fiction and fantasy should also give this one a try.

Different Band, Same Things - 55%

Benign_Hypocrite, October 19th, 2006

When i saw that Fabio Lione was singing in this band, i understood immediately what power metal band this is. I don’t know why the term is used about bands which base their music in melodic parts full of keyboards and not in heavy guitar and bass tunes. I don’t want to make comparisons with other bands, but i can’t say that this album is so “powerful”.

There are 14 songs here, four of them are instrumental preludes. The music here has a more progressive style but it’s like a new simplistic kind of Symphony X. The vocals are the same, bland and bore thing like so many new bands, they’re clear but they lack heaviness. The keyboards are really too much in this album, every song has a keyboard solo and it’s getting raspy after listening three-four songs. Overall the solo work here is not bad but it’s not something surprising, it’s just the same thing with other bands of this style, nothing astonishing. Moreover fast and heavy songs are missing here, the most tunes is a bunch of some tedious riffs and some childish choruses.

So if you’re fan of Rhapsody or Stratovarius i think that this album can satisfy you for some days, but if you’ re going to listen it more than two or three times you’ll be tired with it. If you want something that’s really heavy and pure metal, stay away from this album.

Better than you might expect - 82%

Etiam, November 15th, 2005

So, this is Fabio Lione's old band, for those of you who like Rhapsody.
That's what first caught my interest about them, and then I was saddened to find that by the time this album was released, he'd left the band and had been replaced by fellow Italian Michele Luppi (tough name for a guy, I know). Now, while he's not the Fabio we know and love, he's a force in his own right, with his own distinct style. It fits the new direction the music has taken very very well. In fact, it's one of the best vocal performances I've heard recently, ranking with Dickinson or Geoff Tate in terms of personality and style.

Speaking of the music. It's got enough of that gallopy power metal goodness to keep it's indentity, but it also branches out some into new riffs, new vibes (if you pardon the phrase), and especially new vocal styles. Not like he's growling or anything, but where other bands will sing what the obvious choice would be, Michele does differently, sometimes reminding me of opera, but lacking the pomp. All the musicians are brilliantly talented, and show it without being cheesy glam rockers, which is a nice, more mature touch that many power metal bands don't really have.

This album is a concept album, having something to do with (surprise) a Stream of Consciousness, and I'm guessing some drama or self-worth crisis, I dont' know, I haven't tried to follow it yet. What this means for the casual listener is that there will be a couple brief passages of not music, but this is not really a problem, since they're not obtrusive or unmanagable, like some Rhapsody and Blind Guardian stuff is.

Bottom Line: some great songs, a few more ballad-oriented tracks, faintly reminiscent of Rush progness or an Angra mood, and at one point, an 18 second note. That's right, 18 seconds. It may be a studio trick, but it sure don't sound like it, and besides, I'd rather it not be, where's the fun in that?

If you like power metal, and don't mind a bit of pop sound sometimes (there's the Rush elements), really really consider this.

Best Power/Progressive Metal Release in 2004 - 90%

Romulus141, December 15th, 2004

I heard about this album on another metal review website, and it received a high rating, which intrigued me. They brought some comparisons between this band and Dream Theater (my personal favorite), and that was a big push to purchase this album.

What we have here is a power metal release that does not deal with the fantastic and the medieval. Instead, we have a concept album about a man who wishes to find out the ultimate meaning of life. It consumes him, and his search is fruitless in the end. He attempts to commit suicide, and in his near-death experience, the meaning of life is revealed to him. Obviously, he cannot comprehend the truth, and he begins a steady decline towards insanity. He eventually is put in a mental asylum, and he is forced to live the rest of his life as a shadow of his former self.

Thankfully, although this band uses keyboards, it is not their primary sound. Guitars and drums are at the forefront of the mix, and are quite fast and technical. The band came up with some very engaging riffs for each of the songs. They also take their time to develop each song, and give each track its own personality while still maintaining the unity needed for a concept album.

Sonically, they do remind me of a speedier Dream Theater (I'm talking about the overall driving pace behind the songs), but that's not to say they don't have their own identity. Their overall structure fits into the progressive metal genre (I can't consider them pure power metal), but that's essentially where comparisons end with regards to sound. The keyboards play a different roll in the song (usually taking a backseat, and then coming forward when needed) and the drumming is unrelenting (lots of heavy double bassing, sometimes close to blast beats).

The guitar work is probably my favorite part of the disc. It's got the perfect mix of melodic riffs and straight-rhythm/heavy riffing. Essentially, this is a power metal band with an edge. It's not all fluff, in fact, some of the times its downright heavy. It's got a good mix of the dark and light sides of metal music, which helps to enhance the story musically for the listener.

The vocalist is probably what may turn a lot of people off. Michele Luppi has a clear, soaring vocal style. I find it is the perfect compliment to this type of music. Once again, it gives a nice "light" contrast to the heaviness of some of the tracks. I don't see the problems some metal-heads have with this vocal style. I listen to plenty of death and black metal, but there is a place for this vocal style as well. Michele is very good at what he does, and a heavier, grittier voice would sound out of place. I don't see the vocals as "gay" or "pussy." This music isn't atonal or aesthetically dark, so the vocals shouldn't be like that either.

Overall, this is a strong and energetic release from a rising Italian band. I know I'll be checking out future releases from these guys. This is an impressive early effort, and hopefully it is evidence for the things to come from this band.