Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Voyager - Element V - 2004 - DVS Records

Track Listing1. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi 2. To the Morning Light 3. Cosmic Armageddon Pt. 1 4. Towards Uncertainty 5. The Eleventh Meridian 6. This Bitter Land 7. The Ancient Labyrinth 8. Miseria 9. Monument 10. The V Element 11. Cosmic Armageddon Pt. 2 12. Kingdoms of Control 13. Time for CHange 14. Echoes of Old Terra

Element V comes as the debut album from Aussie power metallers Voyager. These guys have chosen a somewhat uncommon path when it comes to power metal these days. Most bands will fall right into the well-established mold of style set by the likes of Helloween and Gamma Ray. Usually these bands are very good and immensely enjoyed by most power metal fans across the world. Voyager, on the other hand, borrowed some tips but didn’t copy the mold. Instead, they have integrated a few other aspects of metal and music in general into a solid European power metal base, giving them a very unique feel.

The two defining characteristics of this album are the vocals and keyboards. The drums and bass are solid, and the guitarists shine with frequent solos (the one at the beginning of Cosmic Armageddon Pt. 1 stands out as extra-special), however they really aren’t anything too out of the ordinary. Funnily enough, vocal and keyboard duties both fall to one man, Daniel Estrin. The band’s approach to handling vocals is a bit odd, especially for this type of band. I don’t know if it’s because he can’t or because that’s how they’re writing their music, but Estrin never hits a high note the entire album. His mid-range vocals are a nice change from the typical super high voices of so many other bands, but on the flipside, there’s no variation at all with the clean singing. Daniel has quite a nice voice but after a while the lack of any octave change left me a bit bored. Voyager has also thrown in a decent number of lines to be sung in pretty harsh grim vocals – now these are impressive. Not only is Estrin’s voice good for this sort of thing, but their limited use and calculated placement makes these moments all the more exciting.

Despite his less than perfect vocal performance, Estrin does an utterly fantastic job with the keyboards. It is beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is the driving instrument of the band – in almost every song it takes on the dual role of lead melody and some backing atmosphere. Element V puts the keyboard to better use than any new band I’ve heard in a while. Still, the little problem with Daniel’s voice remains, although we mustn’t be too hasty to call it a problem just yet. If he does indeed have the ability to sing some nice high notes once and a while, it’d do the band a great service to write some of those into their music next time around. If not, then, frankly, it’s possible they’d be better off with someone else at lead vocals. I’m not by any means suggesting to remove someone from the band – he’d still be able to tear it up on the keyboards and do the aggressive vocals as well.

With all that said, there really isn’t a bad song on the album. In several places there is room for improvement, but the entire album is quite enjoyable to listen to. The Eleventh Meridian starts off a bit dull, but redeems it self later on with dual soloing guitars, which I’m a sucker for (and I imagine a lot of you out there are as well). In addition, the last verse of the song is in German for some reason, which is a nice albeit quirky change of pace. Everyone positively shines, however, on The Bitter Land. It’s probably the most diverse track on the album, with varied vocals, pace, and melodies. A few, like Miseria and Towards Uncertainty, are very short, and, for those familiar with Kamelot, act just like their “interludes” do. Again, though, there isn’t a bad song on here and I’m sure everyone will have different favorites.

Ah, recommendation time. Always comes at the end of the review, doesn’t it? Well, as far as drawing comparisons go, it’s very tough as Voyager seem pretty unique in what they’re doing. There’s definetley something here for power metal fans looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, and fans of prog metal should pick this up as well. I don’t know how good this would sound to a fan of strictly extreme metal, but if you’ve got an open mind – well, there are some screeches! Despite its minor flaws, Voyager set out to do something very tough and did a damn good job – if you don’t pick this up you’ll be missing out.

--Veritas 08.08.05