Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vanden Plas
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2014
Length: 55:59
Rating: 4.5/5
»The Seraphic Clockwork«, released in 2010 by the long-standing German progressive metal veterans Vanden Plas, was a coming-of-age turning point in the band’s career. It’s regarded as the band’s album with the most polished musical vision, one that grew out of inspiration drawn from the chosen concept. With that record, Vanden Plas soared toward new dimensions of musical creation. Even Christ o (2006) was considered, on release, easily the band’s most diverse album, but with »The Seraphic Clockwork« four years later, Vanden Plas reached their creative peak as composers. Albums come slowly to them. They always have. But these are seasoned musicians who have always approached things in depth, with a big dose of perfectionism and diligent polishing of every last detail. The band released its debut studio album »Colour Temple« 20 years ago (and even that took them almost ten years from their formation in the mid-eighties), and twenty years after that debut, they’ve put out just their seventh studio album overall, titled “Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld – Path 1.«
Performing in theaters is another name for everything the members of Vanden Plas do. Past stints like that helped the band stretch their understanding of music and widen their expressive range through gradual evolution. This time they got in touch with the renowned German fantasy writer Wolfgang Hohlbein, who has sold over 43 million copies of his various works over the course of his career. Allegedly, Hohlbein, a huge fan of Vanden Plas, personally contacted the band and suggested they set his work, originally titled »Die Chronik der Unsterblichen«, to music. The piece had to be adapted for a theatrical rock opera production. The libretto was written by Vanden Plas singer Andy Kuntz, together with Hohlbeim and his manager Dieter Winkler. Vanden Plas ended up creating 19 musical numbers in total. The adaptation of Hohlbeim’s original got the new title »Blutnacht«. The rock opera premiered in Vanden Plas’ hometown of Kaiserslautern in 2012. In 2012 and 2013, twenty-five more completely sold-out »Blutnacht« performances followed. Picture it. Vocalist Andy Kuntz up on stage and the rest of the band »squeezed« into the orchestra pit. Thrilled, Hohlbein then wrote a new novella with the same title (»Blutnacht«) on the back of that success. Because the story is complex, Vanden Plas decided to record the »Chronicles of the Immortals« in two parts and release two albums. Even though the musical concept is already written for the whole story. The second part, the second CD, is announced for release in early 2015!
And the story? Can a person be immortal (sadly, that’s how it is already)? A question that has always stirred the human imagination. The main character of this story is named Andrej Delany. The guy has the gift of immortality, and all he wants is to become mortal like all the »normal« people. He wanders through the centuries in search of his final salvation, with no idea that he has drawn the wrath and ill will of forces that can manipulate eternity and are slowly tightening a noose around his neck. From the »world of night«, a shadow creature approaches Andrej, takes on human form and tries to convince him that together they should overthrow the pantheon of the old gods and steal the throne of God. Chimeras come at Andrej, warning him about the danger of striking godless alliances. The chimeras paint Andrej a picture of his lost love, of the souls of lost children, and steer him onto a »forbidden path«. That path leads to Marius, his son whom he believes to be dead, and to Maria, the love of his life. And so Andrej suddenly finds himself caught between two worlds (»Netherworld«), stranded in the middle of the raging war between the heavenly world and the world of eternal darkness. But which of these archaic shadow beings is the evil temptation and which is enlightenment? Which one wants to help him, and which one wants to betray and destroy him? So Andrej has to choose for himself which of the visions to follow, because he can find the real truth only within himself and nowhere else. And since we said earlier that Vanden Plas split the story across two albums, the first part ends at the point where the whole situation looks hopeless and lost for our hero.
Just like the story, the music is extremely dark too. Darkly epic pomp. An outstanding feel for putting well-defined melodies front and center, this time adorned with orchestral arrangements, and Vanden Plas remain great masters of bombastic show theater. The album constantly rides waves of sudden mood swings, as the punchy, dizzyingly fast parts and the massively riff-driven sections melt into sophisticated passages where the soundscape is filled with piano, clean guitar (no effects) and sampled sound loops, and in that setting the vocal splendor of the exceptional Andy Kuntz once again flourishes in all the glory of top-class delivery.
The album unfolds like a story. The hero sinks deeper and deeper into temptation and, by the end, crashes into the very bottom of existence. That’s how the album goes. From minute to minute it gets darker, and the feeling of a definitive end hangs over the listener. Minor-key structures dominate the compositions. It’s brimming with longing, grief over loss, the sobs of a hopeless search for answers. Vanden Plas packaged everything carefully. At certain points they worked orchestral arrangements into the songs, at others full-on choirs, doubled and tripled Kuntz’s vocals with extra vocal harmonies, and on top of all that, they seasoned the tracks with additional atmospheric sound loops that dramatize the mood, especially in the most sophisticated parts of the compositions. And since it’s in the nature of progressive metal that the instruments never rest for even a moment when it comes to showing off virtuoso acrobatics, the motifs are given extra life by some outstanding transitional parts from Andreas Lill on drums, as well as shifts in time signature. Stephan Lill’s guitar playing is the essential protective sonic and stylistic trademark of the band, the main link between the old and the new Vanden Plas. Günter Werno contributed some excellent ideas in the keyboard arrangements. The interweaving of synthesizers, piano and the orchestral seasoning itself is the work of brilliant arranging finesse from this experienced musical master! The album grows atmospherically from minute to minute toward the closing climax, the »tenth vision« Inside. In the style of the old Vanden Plas, some extremely fluid passages bring back Stephan Lill’s famously wound-up, almost destructively possessed, crushing wall of guitar riffs! Alongside the superb closer »Inside«, we witness such feats especially in the album’s middle tracks New Vampyre and, right after it, in one of the album’s strongest moments, The King And The Children Of The Lost World. The latter is especially real in achieving the perfect cumulus of darkly theatrical atmospheres and metallic crushing power. And of course, everything on the album is spiced up with the bombast of Andy Kuntz’s chorus melodies. Compositionally, Vanden Plas have come out of this story as absolute winners once again. They’ve always subordinated their compositions to the search for the perfect melody. And this time is no different. The atmospheres grab you with their realism, and the goosebumps keep coming while you listen to this one. It’s worth taking the time for it. Because it’s superbly detailed.
“Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld – Path 1.« is a guarantee of highly listenable musical substance. It’s certainly dark, which is dictated by the story it’s tied to, but given the band’s original pedigree of musical complexity, it’s by no means impenetrable. Vanden Plas keep the compositions extremely compact, the leading motifs hold the dominant position within the structure, and the instrumental passages in the songs are clearly under control!
Despite its rich melodies, the album won’t crawl into your ears right away, but will demand a few more spins from you. Just enough to grasp the concept the music is tied to, and all of that will lead you to the core of its message! An album of finely tuned machinery, combining the story’s powerful message with the band’s top-notch songwriting. It’s a new coming-of-age milestone in the band’s career and a kind of art brilliance that very few acts in today’s music world achieve. Unique and unrepeatable. Given that the musical concept for the story is already finished, there’s no fear that the follow-up to the first part will somehow stumble in quality, whether from a lack of creative inspiration or from a lack of lived-in performance. Vanden Plas had to transfer the energy and message of the »Blutnacht« play from the theater stages to CD. Given the band members’ extensive experience and their many past dealings with orchestral works, the whole thing wasn’t a serious obstacle. At most, it was one more »sweet« artistic challenge, and once again they rose to it!
Line-up
Andy Kuntz – vocals
Stephan Lill – guitar
Günter Werno – keyboards
Torsten Reichert – bass guitar
Andreas Lill – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Julia Steingass – vocals on tracks 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10.
Christian Köhler – backing vocals
Manuel Hochschütz – backing vocals
Choir
Production
Vanden Plas & Markus Teske
Track list
1. Vision One
2. Vision Two: Black Knight
3. Vision Three: Godmaker
4. Misery Affection Prelude
5. Vision Five: AGhosts Requiem
6. Vision Six: New Vampyre
7. Vision Seven: The King And The Children Of The Lost World
8. Vision Eight: Mysery Affection
9. Vision Nine: Soul Alliance
10. Vision Ten: Inside
