Formed in 2003; Vinide have had time to hone their craft of symphonic, atmospheric metal - and have now written their third album: Reveal. With writing beginning in 2015 and with the band condensing to a 4-piece during the process, ultimately moving forward without a bassist. Recorded at Musiikkituottaja studio in Kuhmo, Finland this is a concept album spanning 15 songs encompassing just over an hour of epic soundscapes, based on a former employee of an IT company called OMEGA who finds himself in a mental institution and sentenced to death as a result of uncovering a conspiracy leading to the destruction of humanity.
The sound on the album is very well produced and sounds absolutely huge, with the drums thundering throughout. The keyboards and guitar are mixed very well; rarely if ever overpowering one another. The songs are generally well written with virtually nothing feeling forced in and some of the choruses having genuine sing-along quality.
For fans of Epica, Nightwish, Hammerfall and Sabaton; the first half of the album is classic symphonic metal. Though it doesn't break away too much and at times does give in to clichés of the genre, for example spoken word tracks which add little musically and are only to further the story. That being said it is still very listenable and enjoyable. There isn't very much which is groundbreaking for the genre but that doesn't make this any less of a solid effort.
I feel the sound would benefit from more vocal harmonies as with a single vocalist in the chorus it can seem to flatten the sound and detract from the epic tone of the music and subject matter - vocalist Elmeri Kinnunen does show that he has good vocal range as demonstrated in the aggressive vocals in "Another Dimension" and with the soaring clean vocals across the album. There is also a female vocal in various songs through the album and though this is slightly shrill in "The Beginning Scene" (though it is used to good effect later in the song) it would have been good to have this better utilised and possibly used to harmonise and strengthen some of the choruses.
There are some great moments of the album. From being light, soaring and epic, almost angelic in places to sounding thrashy, heavy and weighty. There are a multitude of influences here and most people will be able to find something to love about this album.
The second half of the album is where it comes alive in that it varies greatly from song to song; from sounding industrial - reminiscent of Rammstein in "The Bombs" to sounding like Early Trivium and even 90's Megadeth in "The Great Voyage". My personal favourite song of the album "Believe" is also towards the end of the album and is an absolute barrage of heavy guitars, evil riffs and excellent song-crafting.
Overall a good, solid album and managed to keep me engaged with the story.
I look forward to hearing what Vinide do in the future.
7/10 - Review by Marc
Comments