Visionary666
Into Abeyance

Is it an evil visionary? Well, at least it is a newcomer on the death metal scene, a Dutch band who have enlisted the help of Jörg Uken to create a good sound on their debut album. That is a reason not just to discard the album as Uken has some really nice albums behind him. Otherwise I wouldn’t call traditional death metal a particularly sexy or innovative way to create music, in fact I would describe most stuff from the genre as stuff only interesting to troglodytes with no real understanding in music. Of course that is a little bit spiteful and a little bit exaggerated to poke fun at a genre that isn’t exactly brimming with creativity. I for one have a hard time understanding why anyone would like contribute with more to a genre that has been creatively dead for decades, but of course that is the charming thing about living in a free world; that we are free to pursue whichever creative avenues we like.

Fast, intense and massive death metal is how the label describe what we get from the Visionary Dutchmen and I can to a degree agree with that. It is decent drive and the vocals are nicely guttural and not so boring as most of the vocal performances in the traditional death metal genre. Not really that visionary, but maybe the for the genre very melodic guitar solos add a visionary edge to their sound. I would say that it is well defined music and not the shapeless noise that usually is the death metal genre; you hear the instruments and there aren’t just smattering of drums, abusing of guitars and mating calls of moose. The sound is good so a good production adds to the plus side and I would say that they sound relatively fresh, if that word can be used for this genre.

I would say that this is a pretty good death metal album, it happens every now and then and this is one of those albums that you can actually listen to within a genre that is often unbearable to listen to. Actually, this album is pretty good, I like it actually. Sure , it isn’t a fantastic album but it works well and at least offers something that makes it a little more interesting than much I hear from this genre. I also think it is good that I can finally award a good review from an album from Vic Records, I usually do not like what they release and as I review most of what I listen to I have said some less positive things about their releases – but this is a great exception and one that I think should be liked by most metal fans, though maybe the ones who are into the crappy basement stuff that litter this genre might find it too commercial for their taste but they are in a very small minority and not of any consequence to me or my way of reviewing music.

Good but maybe not unique, the thing is that even though this album differs a little from the norm it still feels like it doesn’t really add anything to a genre that I feel has been finished creatively for a very long time. I have not heard anything really relevant within the traditional death metal genre for as long as I have been reviewing albums, this is one of few exceptions that at least feels like it goes in  a direction of relevancy. Not brilliant or fantastic, or relevant, it is a good album and it can certainly give some enjoyment to listen to it even though you will know in the end that you have heard it all before, many times. Visionary666 are more visionary than most of their peers and that alone might make it worth checking out their good debut album.

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