Melbourne progressive metallers Vanishing Point have done something difficult. And that's releasing an album that stays consistent with the bands sound, but continues to improve upon previous albums. Without getting stale.

Before listening to their new album “The Fourth Season”, I found out that their long-standing drummer Jack Lukic and bassist Joe Del Mastro had left, so I was interested to hear how their sound would change. It seems that the foundation that Vanishing Point's songs are built on - strong melody and straight rocking riffs - have stayed but continue to satisfy.

Progressive Metal is often a strange beast. Musicians with too much time on their hands writing impossibly difficult songs with odd timings, bizarre lyrics and extremely long winded compositions. Luckily for Australians, Vanishing Point have never lost sight of their goal – writing songs that maintain their metal edge while providing a great melodic element. Chorus’s are always a central part to the bands sound with most members providing vocals when playing live, and song lengths are kept quite short (the longest song on the album is 5:32, almost unheard of in the progressive world).

So what is the new album like? Heavy & straight forward metal, some killer choruses, quite a few interesting  keyboard parts and enough solo’s to keep the guitarists happy.  One thing that I find unique about VP is that their technical skill is apparent, but they never let it get in the way of the music. When I’m in the car, chucking in a VP CD means that I’m going to be hit with straight forward progressive metal that’s going to be easy to digest, easy to listen to and easy to enjoy. I particularly enjoyed “Beyond The Open Door” with the guitar harmonies in the chorus + breakdown, and “Ashen Sky” is another great track.

One thing that I feel compelled to mention is that I’ve seen Vanishing Point live quite a few times. They’ve been great – the songs sounded just like the CDs and the vocal performances were spot on. However, their mix has almost always completely sucked. The last time I saw them was at the hi-fi bar supporting Gamma Ray and all I could hear was a boomy muddy bassy mess. I even tried different spots in the venue but to no avail. I sincerely hope that they have sorted out these problems (maybe too loud a stage volume?) because it has defintely held them back from gaining new fans.

“The Fourth Season”  will be available on the 26th of September  and includes a bonus DVD (fingers crossed for the sound, hey)

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