Artist Page: Vanden Plas

This is a good metal album (PA 4 stars). The best tracks imo are "January Sun" (excellent!) and Christ O and Silently. The rest is not bad either, but somewhat less. Some tracks are somewhat cheesy metal (e.g. Wish you were here which starts out nice, but quickly becomes boring). I don't like the version of "Gethsemane" very much, I think the original with Ian Gillan in Jesus Christ Superstar is better. The singer just does not hit the  emotion of the song enough, it's too polished, it should be more raw.

I really like it! Somehow I expected this album to be a little more quirky, more different to the previous Vanden Plas albums. In a way it is different, there are much more authentic symphonic bits - not "just" keyboards. The band has been working with a big orchestra for the last year, and you certainly hear that influence. Having said that, these influences are more dominant on the second half of the album, and I hope they will continue in that direction on their next album.

This is good stuff. The bands reminds me of Dream Theater, the similarities are obvious. The vocals are different though, at times similar to newer Threshold albums. There are really stellar moments in some of the songs, but the album as a whole is just not inventive enough for me.

But they're trying really hard, musicianship and production are top notch, so they get 4 stars from me, which really are just 3 1/2 stars. Sorry, but DT did it first! Also, the keyboards are - well - underwhelming. They are buried in the mix, and appear too thin and unimportant compared to the Guitars.