Band:	Vanishing Point
Album:	The Fourth Season
Style:	Symphonic power metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	August 24, 2007
A review by:	Jeff

01. Embodiment
02. Tyranny Of Distance
03. Surrender
04. Hope Among The Heartless
05. Gaia
06. I Within I
07. Behind The Open Door
08. Ashen Sky
09. One Foot In Both Worlds
10. Veil Of Deceit
11. Wake Me
12. A Day Of Difference

Vanishing Point doesn't have a lot of releases (only 4 with the new album) but they're already a famous and respected band. In 2005, "Embrace The Silence" received a big number of positive words and I'm quite sure that many people are waiting a lot the new release of the Australian combo. "The Fourth Season" is out now and if you like the previous album, I'm sure that you'll enjoy a lot this new one... However I have to say that it could be better and I will try to explain why.

As I said in my introduction, if you like "Embrace The Silence" you'll probably like "The Fourth Season". The new release of Vanishing Point follows the way of their previous album, which means that the music of Vanishing Point is still a mix of dark symphonic Power Metal (a la European sauce) with some touches of Progressive music. On a side it's not bad at all especially if you like all the European bands (Nightwish, Sonata Arctica etc) which play this kind of Symphonic Power Metal but they have also (and that's the force of the combo) some little touches of Progressive music a la Evergrey. It's not something complex a la Symphony X but the keyboards give some really nice ambiances and all in all it's always good to listen to some kind of "different" Power.

But what is wrong then? Well, I'm a bit disappointed by the too important influences of the European Power which is not in my opinion a good thing. I mean that it is (or was?) trendy sometime ago but too many bands chose to play this kind of music and it's sad to see that Vanishing Point seems to want to absolutely follow this trend. It's not a good thing because I think that the Progressive side of the combo is a lot better than its Power Metal side which is average and can even become boring in the end. Vanishing Point should continue to play Power Metal if they want but they should try to find a real demarcation with the European bands. A lot more of anger and power and some more Progressive and complex lines should be perfect. By luck the band seems to write music a bit darker and depressed and that's great but they should follow this way, just add some more progressive stuff and for sure it will become famous. Right now it's great if you like European Power but if you want to listen to original Prog Metal it will not be for you.

The fans of Vanishing Point will not be disappointed by this new release but all the ones (like me) who were expecting something a lot more Progressive will not find something so special with "The Fourth Season". It's not bad, it's ok to listen to this release but obviously Vanishing Point didn't chose to play the best kind of music and honestly I think that they're able to do something better.