VICINITY - VIII

VICINITY

Album: VIII

Genre: Progressive Powermetal

Release Date: March 8th, 2024

Country: Norway

Label: Mighty Music

Band Links: WEBSITE / BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

Sometimes, an album needs a second chance to go with... When I started listening to VICINITY’s “VIII” a while ago, intrigued by the marvelous cover artwork of Remedy Art Design, I somehow couldn’t find access to it, even though all ingredients should have been right up my alley. But Melodic Progmetal from Norway released by Mighty Music should be worth a second try, so returning to their music with fresh ears made me feel way more comfortable with it.

Everything is done right here, from the excellent playing skills over the varied song-writing to the amazing vocal range. There are strong hints of Symphony X, Threshold, Anthriel or Odd Dimension sequences, and the full drum sound reminds me of Pyramid Theorem, but there are worse things to be compared with, isn’t it? ;-) Just sometimes the different parts stumble a bit into each other before everyone is back on track, and the album feels a bit too clean for me, which might have caused the initial distance. But there’s a lot to enjoy for a Progmetal fan – Give it a spin!

Written by Katha (originally for The Progspace)