Vision Divine
The 25th Hour

Everything picks up where "Stream Of Consciousness" left us, with a man practically imprisoned in his madness. With the man, that man, trapped in a cell of an asylum, leafing through the pages of a diary, his diary, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. 24 hours a day.

That man who, in his madness, remembers and recalls sensations sometimes disjointed from each other, now hate, now complacency, now passion, now fear. And, among these moments, he wonders if he, once again, can dare, to reach nirvana, his inner nirvana. To touch the highest point of spirituality, to strike the minute of the fateful twenty-fifth hour.

As we slowly turn the pages of that manuscript, we will realize that it will be possible.

Olaf Thorsen left us with a masterpiece and now presents us with another. He who managed to look through the eyes of God in "Stream Of....", now dares the impossible and attempts to repeat the unsurpassable. But he knows this is possible, at least as long as he holds the strings of his ax and as long as Michele Luppi, the true protagonist of the entire work, with his warm and expressive voice, gives tone and volume to the notes.

"My angel Died" introduces us where "Stream Of Consciousness" left us: a melancholic intro of less than a minute that gives way to the following "The 25^th Hour", in which the entire formation shows their best. In which Alessio "Tom" Lucatti "flies" with his keyboard, Alessandro remains incisive behind his drums while Cristiano Bertocchi monumentalizes his bass and Federico Puleri confirms his reliability on his second guitar.

The opener, already exuberant and energetic in itself, gives way to the key track of the work, "Out Of A Distant Night (Voices)", in which the entire formation surpasses itself. Michele Luppi and Olaf are a formidable duo, but the sublime melodies that the song conveys in the refrain leave the listener astonished. Michele is a dragon, because with his voice more rock than metal he really offers an outstanding performance; a performance that will be repeated and matched in the concluding AOR ballad "Heaven Calling", where it seems we reach the gates of Heaven. Michele Luppi, with AOR, has shown everyone that he has more than a close acquaintance, and in "Out Of..." and his breaks leave us breathless. BUT nothing would be possible without the contribution of the keyboards and guitars, which alone deserve honor for the involvement they transmit to the listener.

It is time for "Alpha e Omega" that you have all already listened to, as it is available for free on the internet. It is not yet time, however, for the ballad (which is placed at the end of the album) but rather for another killer song, "Eyes of A Child", high-class power metal.

In "The Demon You Hide" one gets lost between acoustic and distorted passages and bursts, now melody now heaviness, now poignant voice, now sadness, now, again, 360-degree melody in the refrains. The guitars, with their acoustic interweavings, offer us high-class power-prog. Progressive that only a great band like Vision Divine can offer the planet.

The following "Perfect Suicide" (a sonic earthquake with double bass and helicopter snare, perhaps exaggerated by a trigger that amplifies it beyond imagining) and "Essence of Time" have little to say to me but, after all, they are two pearls that, within a jewel, will shine less, perhaps because they are overshadowed by the blinding light that other diamonds emanate on their own.

The concluding "Ascension" is, finally, a self-satisfaction of the band's mastery, where melancholy, once again, becomes the protagonist of the entire work. Where, perhaps, it reminds us of that masterpiece that was "Stream of Consciousness" making us almost regret it.

We are at the end. We are at the conclusion. The clock ticks the final seconds of the twenty-fifth hour and we close the curtains on this great monument to progressive rock music, where power perfectly blends with the melodies of regressive psychedelia and hard rock.

The divine vision of a twenty-fifth hour, of a Nirvana never again unattainable, is fulfilled.

I can only wish you to make that same suggestion your own. The same hour, the one where the ticking seconds that mark it make us lose ourselves in the inhibition of our own senses.

Masterpiece.