The Vision Bleak opens its storybook once again.
Since the 2000s, Markus « Schwadorf » Stock (harsh vocals/guitar/bass/keyboards, Deinonychus, Empyrium, Ewigheim, Noekk, Sun of the Sleepless) and Tobias « Konstanz » Schönemann (vocals/drums, Ewigheim, live for Empyrium) have been nurturing their « Horror Metal », which they now bring to life on their seventh album, Weird Tales, released by Prophecy Productions.
Aided by violinist Aline Deinert (Neun Welten, live for Empyrium), the duo have created an unique long song for this album, which they have named Weird Tales, and which they have separated into twelve distinct parts, dedicated to the golden age of poetic horror and mysterious literature. So, of course, you’ll find references not only in the eerie atmosphere, but also in the lyrics and the various visual content that the band offers to enhance the adventure.
As for the music, I’ve chosen to experience these twelve chapters as a single adventure, finding oppression and darkness, saturation and impressive riffs interspersed with a few clean-sounding parts, but also the various vocal interventions that guide and orient us in this labyrinth of darkness. Only the piano interludes provide any real tranquility, but these are regularly broken by the return of the rhythm section, the arrival of the screams or even the heady, haunting leads that hypnotize us and draw us ever deeper into their mist.
The adventure is still marked by a majestic central orchestral section that once again darkens the track, letting the distressing saturation take possession of our walk through these haunted woods. The atmosphere change is also felt in the supposedly soothing parts, which are shorter and sadder, creating a real continuity in the decay at work, but it will end with the very last part, where luminous sounds finally resurface, as if to reassure us and get us out of this nightmare.
Between all its influences, The Vision Bleak has always been able to create a unique and singular universe, whether in pure beauty or by adding violence. Weird Tales will, in turn, surprise and above all amaze us.
95/100