Vicinity: VIII

Vicinity’s new album VIII is one of my favorite albums of the year to date. Its high-quality progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater, Circus Maximus, Symphony X, and Seventh Wonder.

I’m a pretty hardcore fan of this genre, but hadn’t stumbled on these guys prior to being assigned this album to review. Shame on me, because the Norwegian band has been crafting progressive metal for a long time. VIII is their 3rd studio album since being formed in 2006, although this is their first release with vocalist Erling Malm (Articulus, Endolith). Erling is a great fit for the band’s sound, and his smooth vocals are reminiscent of Tommy Karevik’s work in Seventh Wonder.

Mixing duties in VIII were handled by Øyvind Voldmo Larsen (Seventh Wonder, Circus Maximus, Withem) and mastering was completed at Fascination Street Studios by Tony Lindgren (Ihsahn, James LaBrie, Leprous, Opeth). It’s a quality sounding release as you would expect after seeing the list of bands that the mixing and mastering engineers have worked with.

The tracklisting is strong throughout the 8 (VIII) tracks, with my personal favorites being the opener, ‘Promised Paradise’, the uplifting ‘Purpose’, and the closing epic ‘Face The Rain’.

Realistically the album isn’t overly original in its ideas and instrumentation- the guitar, drums and keyboard tones and approaches are very late-era Dream Theater influenced. However, it's well crafted and executed, and therefore I get a lot of enjoyment from it. The level of virtuosity is not quite at the level of Dream Theater (unsurprisingly), but it is very strong.

Fans of progressive metal should definitely check this album out

Tracklisting:

1. Promised Paradise
2. Distance
3. Purpose
4. Confusion Reactor
5. The Singularity
6. Shape Of Life
7. Dke
8. Face The Rain

Added: August 29th 2024
Reviewer: Chris Reid
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1845
Language: english

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