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Vanden Plas is a German quintet dedicated to progressive metal. The album in question is their third of the six released so far, to which must be added a seventh acoustic work as well as an eighth live album. The band primarily draws inspiration from the flag bearers Dream Theater, secondly from those who first coined the progressive metal hybrid, namely Rush and Kansas, thirdly also from other forefathers of somehow romantic and aesthetic metal, for example Dokken and gradually Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy... slipping towards Yes, Genesis, etc., up to the Beatles, whose primordial influence never hurts... one needs to play at least black metal not to find them as inspirers...
Compared to the primary reference constituted by the Dream Theater, the five from Kaiserslautern are less intricate and boastful (and that's saying something). They tend to extend their songs, but rarely beyond six or seven minutes. Given the genre, the group's four instrumentalists are quite alert and skilled on their instruments, and it couldn't be otherwise, but there is quite a focus on essentials here, read melodies and harmonic progressions of quality (established by the necessary interest of the listener in the pompous and Wagnerian side of hard rock).
The singer especially, whose real name is Andy Kuntz, is much more convincing than the just convincing and quite out of context James Labrie, the Canadian who found fame with the Theater. Especially in slow ballads, when the games are mainly led by the lush piano of Günther Werno, his passionate expressiveness and harmonic richness come out splendidly. This is the case in the sixth track "I Don't Miss You" where the poignant nostalgia of the lyrics is amplified by genuine involvement and conviction, as well as by a sublime timbre.
The longer-haired guitarist Stephan Lill is responsible for composing the more intricate episodes, a condensation of eighties guitarism but without overdoing it. The lineup is completed by his brother Andreas (who instead sports a crew cut) on drums and bassist Torsten Reichert, the stern-looking and tattooed guy on the cover.
Truly original German bands are quite different... these guys are entirely derivative but very intense and skilled; more skilled than their masters, at least from the point of view of sense of proportion and good taste.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Far Off Grace (07:03)
[Music: S. Lill / Lyrics: A. Kuntz]
On the way you start to go
where the morning meets the light
all the reasons washed ashore
to foreign lands
where you want to go
where you want to rise
innovation see the coexistent world
now you are sailing
to the edge yonder the waves
to the place he'd left behind
and you're speaking
to the voices of the sea
why he had to leave
still you have to stay
what do you know
where do we go
we are born to stay
here far off grace
and a crayfish is the lord
of the characters I meet
in the deep and healing oceans
so divine
all the essences I face
they were singing me the song
about the meaning
and the reasons that he's gone
full of wisdom are the images they told
and salvation saves the soul
everyday we are searching
for this foreign place
where I have to go
and where you want to stay
what do you know
where do we go
we are born to stay
here far off grace
waiting for the dawn
morning meets the light
whas me to the shore
into a land I left behind
sailing to the edge
leaving with the tide
searching for a place
where you will never be left alone
hear the serenade
makes you understand
why you had to stay and I fade away
07 Iodic Rain (06:54)
[Music: S.Lill / Lyrics: A. Kuntz]
A shattered lamp imbrues the night
projecting sharp figures in his face
ten thousand days to paint your wings
and rise with the phoenix for a day
I know that you will betray yourself
to some things
we'll never get closer to
I know that we always surrender
I know that we must be aware
the scissors cut a shape of a man
betrays jaring sciences he rose
magnetic suns and star machines
to yield the submission of the gods
I know that you will betray yourself
to some things
we'll never get closer to
why do you thing we have all the rights
to unite all the sciences we should
not compare
you're loosing everything
nothings about to heal you
you fly into the unforgiven sunlight
to heal your pain
pour down Iodic rain
I know that we always surrender
I know that must be aware
you turn the pinions down
fly to the stars around
you're loosing everyting
nothings about to heal you
you're loosing everyone
that ever tried to heal you
you fly into the unforgiven sunlight
to heal your pain
pour down Iodic rain
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