Band:	The Vision Bleak
Album:	The Deathship Has A New Captain
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	February 23, 2004
A review by:	Malcolm

Disc I
01. A Shadow Arose
02. The Night Of The Living Dead
03. Wolfmoon
04. Metropolis
05. Elizabeth Dane
06. Horror Of Antarctica
07. The Lone Night Rider
08. The Grand Devilry
09. Deathship Symphony

Disc II [limited edition] v: [Classical ]
01. A Shadow Arose
02. Wolfmoon
03. The Lone Night Rider
04. Deathship Symphony
05. The Grand Delivery

If I hear the name of the genre, Horror Metal, I directly think of King Diamond, maybe not so strange, since he is the leader in that practically genre (or sub-genre if you want to call it that), and then I almost think that all Horror would sound something near to King, but guess how wrong I was, Horror is wider than I believed.
Here is another way to play Horror (mixed with a lot of Doom and some Death); The Vision Bleak is the name, remember that.

The Vision Bleak is a two-male band from Germany, with the ex- Empyrium mastermind Ulf Theodor Schwadorf on Guitar, Bass and Keyboards.
And Ewigheim's Allen B. Konstanz on Vocals, Drums and Keyboards.
Since I never heard those two band, I can't tell if the music is like one band or the other, but regarding to Schwadorf it's not far away from Empyrium, "You can not move away from your roots" he said in a interview, so it have to be something close, at least.

The album has fine, horror, influences, with famous names like John Carpenter (The Fog), H.P. Lovecraft (Mountains of Madness), Friedrich Murnau (Nosferatu), Fritz Lang (Metropolis) as inspiration sources.
Even the old legends about Werewolves and Frankenstein are here.

Dressed up as two gentlemen from the 19th century, they deliver 9 (one intro) songs to us here, filled with Horror.
But it's not the music it self that is most horrifying, it's the lyrics and the atmosphere over the album.
And as I said, it's not the kind of Horror King Diamond is playing, it's more to the darker way, Doom alike vocals, spoken word passages, choirs, and much keyboard driven music, it's something I would call, original.
The vocals sometimes remind me of Fernando from Moonspell, and that's not a bad comparison. (Just listen to the song "Horror of Antarctica" and you'll understand).

One "bad" point is that some of the songs have strange keyboard sounds that are repeating over and over again. It might just be me that has much against such sounds, but some songs would be even better without them, but that's just an opinion from me.
But they have a very nice heaviness through the whole record and the songs are damn fine and I know I will enjoy this record for many months.

This release will be released in two different (three, one LP-version too) versions, one 9 track one, this one I have to promo of, and one 2-CD that will include 5 of the songs ("A Shadow Arose", "Wolfmoon", "The Lone Night Rider", "The Grand Devilry" & "Deathship Symphony") in classic versions; played with a string ensemble. (I wish I could hear those).

To sum it up, if you're looking for a Horror album with Doom alike vocals, mighty choirs, Horror lyrics and atmosphere, this might be the album for you.
Or are you a fan of Empyrium, check it up; I guess you will like this.

Favourite Songs: "Wolfmoon" is my favourite, but "The Lone Night Rider", "Elizabeth Dane" & "Metropolis" is not far after.