Cd Review: Voyager - The Meaning of I

One of my biggest complaints about both Progressive Metal as well as Progressive Rock is that the lyrics and vocals seem to be given the least amount of thought of the entire project. The artwork here is a gorgeous landscape of some world from a science fiction novel I have never heard of. The guitar work is some of the most jaw dropping, off time, complex, catchy, and just down right interesting compositions I have heard in awhile. The bass and drums add to what ends up being a beautiful sonic adventure that few could ever hope to enjoy. Then on top of it all is the most repetitive, boring, and at times extremely goofy lyrics. The guys vocals remind me more of Duran Duran than they do any Metal band you could name. The Progressive scene never seems able to wrap their heads around the fact that if they are going to add vocals that there needs to be as much effort into them as they put into everything else.  

Even the production on this is as top notch as it gets. The mix leaves everything so it can be heard as clear and crisp as one could ever want it to. In every way I can think of this is a wet dream come true for anyone who wants the most out of their music, but has never cared one bit about vocals or lyrics. The craft of songwriting is as passionate as it gets here. If only more bands put as much effort into their song writing as this band does, the world would be a better place.

If I was a co-producer I would have had one of the other guys in the band add a Slayer like vocal over strategic spots on the cd to cover up the weaker points. If they did that along with this main singer getting just a little more raspy himself so it doesn't sound like 80's New Wave Rock would make this the perfect Metal release.

Seriously, this band is very close to greatness. I will be watching to see if they fix the vocals and lyrics on future releases.