VISION DIVINE - When All The Heroes Are Dead (Scarlet Records)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    29 december 2020

Yet another band I had to discover and coming from Italy this time are the power metalheads from Vision Divine! According to the promo talk ‘When All The Heroes Are Dead’ is the new, long waited album from Vision Divine, coming 7 years after the critically-acclaimed ‘Destination Set To Nowhere’, which is still considered one of their best releases to date.


The long wait was all worth it: the band now include the mesmerizing talents of Mike Terrana (the busiest drummer in the business) and Ivan Giannini (one of the hottest newcomers amongst metal singers for the Japanese press), and the extraordinary success of the first single with this line-up, ‘Angel Of Revenge’, proves that fans are eager to listen to the new tunes. Get ready for great melodies, granitic riffs, fast paced songs and epic duels between guitars and keyboards.

Insurgent is a symphonic metal minded intro with a choir. The real first song comes with The 26th Machine: an empowered symphonic metal track with sweet backings and a catchy sound. It’s clear that Ivan Giannini is a very talented vocalist! A bit stronger/faster is the next one: 3 Men Walk On The Moon. It’s also show off time for the guitar players. I also like the fight between the guitars and the synths, just as the very sugary backings. Fall From Grace is not a The Mission cover, but a speeded up power metal track. Were I God sounds very sweet and catchy. It’s a very radio friendly song. More sweetness comes with Now That All The Heroes Are Dead (despite the lyrics and the title). It’s a bit like what Felix Flaucher did when he was still alive: sounding sweet whilst bringing lyrics about death, pain, loss, … A nice acoustic ballad comes with While The Sun Is Turning Black (do I have to remind you about what I said about the previous song?).The King Of The Sky sounds fast and hard with hammering drums and speedy guitars. The vocals on this one are really gorgeous! On The Ides Of March sounds fine, a bit mellow, but the vocals are really great (just as the guitars). 300 sounds as if the 300 Spartans are coming to get you and are hammering away their enemies. The Nihil Propaganda sounds like a ballad, with even some passages in Italian. I have no idea what the song really is about, but I like the angelic sound in the background, the piano synth and the male vocals going really sky high. So far the regular album, but I get one extra track: Angel Of Revenge (Digipack Bonus Track). It’s a heavy rocker with a symphonic metal touch and played at high speed. It’s a cool extra, with lots of cool twists and surprising changes within the song.

Well: the album is not bad, but more variation and maybe even a female touch would have been a bit better as I felt a bit like struggling in the end to keep positive. Maybe they’ll surprise me in a better way next time? But hold on: they are absolutely not bad, I’m just setting the score really high.