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The Vision Bleak - Set Sail To Mystery review




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Reviewer:
7.8

83 users:
8.11
Band: The Vision Bleak
Album: Set Sail To Mystery
Release date: April 2010


Disc I
01. A Curse Of The Grandest Kind
02. Descend Into Maelstrom
03. I Dined With The Swans
04. A Romance With The Grave
05. The Outsider
06. Mother Nothingness (The Triumph Of Ubbo Sathla)
07. The Foul Within
08. He Who Paints The Black Of Night

Disc II [limited edition]
01. I Dined With The Swans [feat. Niklas Kvarforth]
02. By The Mysery Of Fate He Was Haunted [Master's Hammer cover]
03. Descend Into Maelstrom [classical version]
04. Mother Nothingness [classical version]
05. The Foul Within [classical version]
06. I Dined With The Swans [classical version]
07. A Farewell At Sea [classical version]

The Vision Bleak with Deathship Has A New Captain and Carpathia – A Dramatic Poem were a small surprise for the gothic metal scene, some fresh air for the genre with glimpses of personallity, inspiration and filled with horror and lyricism atmosphere. The Wolves Go Hunt Their Prey which followed was nothing innovative, not anymore, a good album, in the same vein as the previous two in terms of feeling, but it wasn't giving you the impression of the horrorful orgasms you had whilst listening to the first two releases. The same applies on 2010's Set Sail To Mystery, whose only mystery is just new compositions, the ingredients are set, the recipe is already written, all that remains is to re-fix the outcome.

All that ye wish to find is here. Gloomy chords, dynamic guitar riffing, nightmarish keyboard passages that evoke the stench of horror which is The Vision Bleak's trademark, accompanying rhythm section in the ideal manner and of course Allen B. Konstanz's cinematic voice, always expressive, always the narrator of stories yet untold, always the shadow that is always one step behind you. Yet, despite the fact that the sound is nothing new anymore and won't go a step forward, there's enough inspiration to keep your interest at welcome levels, although Set Sail To Mystery may tire a bit at times, not much though, depending on your mood mainly.

As with any other of their albums, there's the sound concept, different stories that create an overall impression of harmony and flow, henceforth the album may be listened as a whole so as to get caught by its ambiance. But if ye wish for some standout tracks, one could be the desecrator of innocence “I Dined With The Swans” (both the original and the version featuring Shining's Kvarforth are great, the second being a little bit sicker, as it should), the menacing “The Outsider”, giving you the impression as if someone follows you, the marching and dementing “Descend Into the Maelstrom” and the doomy, ceremonial “Mother Nothingness”.

Expect nothing more than what you'd actually expect. The Captain hasn't abandoned the Deathship yet, so Set Sail To Mystery.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 9





Written on 12.09.2010 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind."


Comments

Comments: 18   Visited by: 140 users
12.09.2010 - 22:36
Fat & Sassy!

The name of this album is oh so majestic. But their MySpace songs sound kinda boring... :/
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13.09.2010 - 00:35
Diabolos
Space For Rent!
Written by Fat & Sassy! on 12.09.2010 at 22:36

The name of this album is oh so majestic. But their MySpace songs sound kinda boring... :/

You should listen to the song "Kutulu!", one of the best songs ever!
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14.09.2010 - 12:54
Merchant of Doom

Another contender, with Tristania, for the worse album cover of the year...
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14.09.2010 - 13:03
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 12:54

Another contender, with Tristania, for the worse album cover of the year...

Check Saraj Jezebel Deva's cover on A Sign Of Sublime and you'll probably find the winner, Tristania's cover is a masterpiece compared to it
----
Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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14.09.2010 - 13:13
Merchant of Doom

Written by KwonVerge on 14.09.2010 at 13:03

Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 12:54

Another contender, with Tristania, for the worse album cover of the year...

Check Saraj Jezebel Deva's cover on A Sign Of Sublime and you'll probably find the winner, Tristania's cover is a masterpiece compared to it


what do you mean? I like that!
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14.09.2010 - 13:16
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 13:13

Written by KwonVerge on 14.09.2010 at 13:03

Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 12:54

Another contender, with Tristania, for the worse album cover of the year...

Check Saraj Jezebel Deva's cover on A Sign Of Sublime and you'll probably find the winner, Tristania's cover is a masterpiece compared to it


what do you mean? I like that!

You liked Sarah's cover?
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Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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14.09.2010 - 13:20
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by KwonVerge on 14.09.2010 at 13:16

Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 13:13

Written by KwonVerge on 14.09.2010 at 13:03

Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 12:54

Another contender, with Tristania, for the worse album cover of the year...

Check Saraj Jezebel Deva's cover on A Sign Of Sublime and you'll probably find the winner, Tristania's cover is a masterpiece compared to it


what do you mean? I like that!

You liked Sarah's cover?


It certainly is better than the ones by The Vision Bleak and Tristania. The Vision BLeak's is the worst by far from those three.
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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14.09.2010 - 13:26
Merchant of Doom

Fimbulthier's is pretty shocking too...
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14.09.2010 - 13:26
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Well, opinions, opinions to me it is sarah, tristania, the vision bleak, all of them are cheesy for different reasons to me.
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Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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14.09.2010 - 13:27
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.09.2010 at 13:26

Fimbulthier's is pretty shocking too...

lol yeah, post-sex
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Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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14.09.2010 - 17:46
Lovecraft
Account deleted
The cover is not so bad, anyways, the album is not horrible, but it's the same formula over and over.
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19.09.2010 - 00:26
Rating: 7
lord artan

This was a concept album and Poem was very deep and beautiful
but...
I had expected more from his genius I mean Markus.Someone always has creative music
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19.09.2010 - 13:44
Rating: 9
VaronoZz
Vampbaron
Although i agree about the fact, that this album its not something new in their sound, it deserves a review about its self and not to compare it abt the previous masterpieces.
----
give praise for the blood it bled,
grant a rose for the dead...
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19.09.2010 - 13:48
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:44

Although i agree about the fact, that this album its not something new in their sound, it deserves a review about its self and not to compare it abt the previous masterpieces.

It was a review about itself, i didn't review within the review the previous albums, i just referred to them on the first paragraph comparing them to this not so innovative or a step ahead album for the band's progress, i think the fans should know that's in not something new anymore.
----
Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
Loading...
19.09.2010 - 13:55
Rating: 9
VaronoZz
Vampbaron
Written by KwonVerge on 19.09.2010 at 13:48

Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:44

Although i agree about the fact, that this album its not something new in their sound, it deserves a review about its self and not to compare it abt the previous masterpieces.

It was a review about itself, i didn't review within the review the previous albums, i just referred to them on the first paragraph comparing them to this not so innovative or a step ahead album for the band's progress, i think the fans should know that's in not something new anymore.


i dont disagree, u did give the info and ur opinion abt the album. But someone that has never heard before The Vision Bleak, takes the message that, u know u shouldnt hear this, before the others. At least to my ears sounds a bit more critical that should be. But ok i respect your review, u are really good on this, i read many of yours.
----
give praise for the blood it bled,
grant a rose for the dead...
Loading...
19.09.2010 - 14:00
KwonVerge
Odysseus
Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:55

Written by KwonVerge on 19.09.2010 at 13:48

Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:44

Although i agree about the fact, that this album its not something new in their sound, it deserves a review about its self and not to compare it abt the previous masterpieces.

It was a review about itself, i didn't review within the review the previous albums, i just referred to them on the first paragraph comparing them to this not so innovative or a step ahead album for the band's progress, i think the fans should know that's in not something new anymore.


i dont disagree, u did give the info and ur opinion abt the album. But someone that has never heard before The Vision Bleak, takes the message that, u know u shouldnt hear this, before the others. At least to my ears sounds a bit more critical that should be. But ok i respect your review, u are really good on this, i read many of yours.

Well, i actually think that a new fan should probably check first their first two releases, but in the end, if he checks this one first, it will still sound something quite new to him since he hasn't heard of the first two. Thanks man
----
Dec. 30, 1334.

...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
Loading...
19.09.2010 - 14:53
Rating: 9
VaronoZz
Vampbaron
Written by KwonVerge on 19.09.2010 at 14:00

Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:55

Written by KwonVerge on 19.09.2010 at 13:48

Written by VaronoZz on 19.09.2010 at 13:44

Although i agree about the fact, that this album its not something new in their sound, it deserves a review about its self and not to compare it abt the previous masterpieces.

It was a review about itself, i didn't review within the review the previous albums, i just referred to them on the first paragraph comparing them to this not so innovative or a step ahead album for the band's progress, i think the fans should know that's in not something new anymore.


i dont disagree, u did give the info and ur opinion abt the album. But someone that has never heard before The Vision Bleak, takes the message that, u know u shouldnt hear this, before the others. At least to my ears sounds a bit more critical that should be. But ok i respect your review, u are really good on this, i read many of yours.

Well, i actually think that a new fan should probably check first their first two releases, but in the end, if he checks this one first, it will still sound something quite new to him since he hasn't heard of the first two. Thanks man


Thats my point! ;] cheers
----
give praise for the blood it bled,
grant a rose for the dead...
Loading...
25.10.2012 - 19:28
Rating: 9
peggazuzz

I think this is their best album. It is the same formula, yes, but here it is at its most refined.
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