Vanden Plas - Chronicles of the Immortals (Netherworld)

[Bryant]

Mine came in the mail yesterday. I actually grimaced a bit on first spin. This disc is adventurous even by Vanden Plas standards. After about half a dozen spins or so....... I absolutely love it. There is a duet in here, some children's choir, a narration. Only Vanden Plas can pull stuff like this off. Still to early for a real review, but they are in top form.

Bryant

 

[General Zod]

I've listened to it three times. Admittedly, I would have never bothered with a second spin had the cover not had a Vanden Plas logo. The best moments on this album merely sound like Vanden Plas rehashing ground they've successfully covered before, while the remainder sounds meandering and uneventful. Some bands have a tendency to get caught up in creating "projects", rather than just writing good albums. After the The Seraphic Clockwork, I hoped Vanden Plas would just return to writing great songs. Instead they broadened their scope, took on something monumental, and wound up with a record that mostly sounds tedious. Granted I have little tolerance for Prog these days, so perhaps others will find this more enjoyable. I'll definitely revisit it occasionally throughout the year, but for now I'm just going to set it aside and see if re-approaching it with diminished expectations allows me to see it in a new light.

 

[TwizstedJesus]

Epic in scope, this disc has the potential to be a "grower". My initial opinion was "meh", but a 2nd listen has a few things growing on me. I'll dig deeper over the next few weeks and decide where it falls in the Vanden Plas discography after that.
Overall its still worth a listen

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

I've listened to it three times. Admittedly, I would have never bothered with a second spin had the cover not had a Vanden Plas logo. The best moments on this album merely sound like Vanden Plas rehashing ground they've successfully covered before, while the remainder sounds meandering and uneventful. Some bands have a tendency to get caught up in creating "projects", rather than just writing good albums. After the The Seraphic Clockwork, I hoped Vanden Plas would just return to writing great songs. Instead they broadened their scope, took on something monumental, and wound up with a record that mostly sounds tedious. Granted I have little tolerance for Prog these days, so perhaps others will find this more enjoyable. I'll definitely revisit it occasionally throughout the year, but for now I'm just going to set it aside and see if re-approaching it with diminished expectations allows me to see it in a new light.

Kinda like the last Ayreon then?

 

[General Zod]

That's a fair comparison. And honestly, it's not shocking this album missed the mark. They started with a story from a German author, transformed that into a theater piece, and then turned that into a two part album. That seems so far removed from the natural creative process, that there was almost no place for this thing to go but right over the cliff.

The aspect of Vanden Plas I've always appreciated was their subtlety. It always felt like they just let the songs come to them... like nothing was forced. Just listen to "Silently". It's 8+ minutes of pure songwriting majesty. Unfortunately, Chronicles feels completely forced. It feels similar to the last few Opeth albums; unrelated pieces parts and compositions, horrifically stitched together to form a whole.

 

[DADRocks]

Epic in scope, this disc has the potential to be a "grower". My initial opinion was "meh", but a 2nd listen has a few things growing on me. I'll dig deeper over the next few weeks and decide where it falls in the Vanden Plas discography after that.
Overall its still worth a listen

I'm kinda with you on this one....I've only been through it once, though I didn't have the "meh" opinion, actually kinda liking it on the 1st spin. I do think this could grow on me quite a bit. I'll definitely be spinning this a bunch more times in the coming weeks, as long as I get off my current PoS kick...

 

[Bryant]

Sorry but this thing............ they have created is absolutely beyond positive adjectives. I am absolutely blown away by it. I am moved by so many parts of it.


Bryant

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Sorry but this thing............ they have created is absolutely beyond positive adjectives. I am absolutely blown away by it. I am moved by so many parts of it.


Bryant

You're kinda out Andreing AngraRules

Still, I'm going to get it sooner than later.

 

[Harvester]

You're kinda out Andreing AngraRules

 

[Riceloft]

On first spin I'm REALLY enjoying this.

I thought Seraphic Clockwork was one of the best albums of the last several years. I couldn't get into Christ 0 to safe my life.

 

[General Zod]

You're kinda out Andreing AngraRules

That's awesome.

 

[PromisedLand]

You're kinda out Andreing AngraRules

Woah.. that's almost an event horizon.

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Gave it a few listens. It sort of has a Poetry For the Poisoned vibe to it.

 

[LarryD]

I'm blown away by this disc .... sure, I'm a VP fanboy, but this disc is just what Vanden Plas is all about. It's sort of like a hybrid of Christ-O and Seraphic .....injected with more drama. This is Vanden Plas.

Maybe I'm overdoing it as its been quite some time since a VP disc, but I haven't been this happy about a disc in a long time - I'm basking in it.

 

[Bryant]

Epic in scope, this disc has the potential to be a "grower". My initial opinion was "meh", but a 2nd listen has a few things growing on me. I'll dig deeper over the next few weeks and decide where it falls in the Vanden Plas discography after that.
Overall its still worth a listen

On first spin I'm REALLY enjoying this.

I thought Seraphic Clockwork was one of the best albums of the last several years. I couldn't get into Christ 0 to safe my life.

Gave it a few listens. It sort of has a Poetry For the Poisoned vibe to it.

I'm blown away by this disc .... sure, I'm a VP fanboy, but this disc is just what Vanden Plas is all about. It's sort of like a hybrid of Christ-O and Seraphic .....injected with more drama. This is Vanden Plas.

Maybe I'm overdoing it as its been quite some time since a VP disc, but I haven't been this happy about a disc in a long time - I'm basking in it.

Whew !! Glad some others are enjoying this. First few days, I heard mostly negative stuff. I am off Monday and Tuesday. I hope to write a review for this on one of those days. As involved as this release is, I think it might be a big task to try and review it.

Bryant

 

[LarryD]

I'm surprised at the lack of love this disc is getting on some boards.....yes, I'm a bonafide fanboy, but I would definitely speak up about it if I didn't think it was up with there with the best VP quality.

I spoke out against the robotic-like recording sound of Far Off Grace when it came out, and it took me many months to finally dig it as a whole .... and to this day I don't like Beyond Daylight at all.

I read that lots of people aren't digging the lack of heaviness, or the fact that it's more of a stage production than anything else, or lack of "songs" and / or soloing..... but man, the writing on this thing is right up there with the best of VP, and the performance is just spectacular. Andy sounds as good as ever.

I can only hope that lots of people just haven't gotten the disc yet, or that some have just lost interest in the band -- but I'm baffled by the amount of people not digging this disc if they are a VP fan in general....

Thoughts ?

 

[General Zod]

I read that lots of people aren't digging the lack of heaviness, or the fact that it's more of a stage production than anything else, or lack of "songs" and / or soloing...

This sums up my complaints pretty accurately.

...but man, the writing on this thing is right up there with the best of VP, and the performance is just spectacular. Andy sounds as good as ever.

Everything about music is so subjective. I just don't find the album engaging at all. I find that one minute I'm listening to Track 4 and then the next time I take note of the music I'm on Track 7. It just all blurs together for me.

 

[LarryD]

Everything about music is so subjective. I just don't find the album engaging at all. I find that one minute I'm listening to Track 4 and then the next time I take note of the music I'm on Track 7. It just all blurs together for me.

***I totally agree with you on the blur factor .....and strangely, this is why I love the disc. It's like one long song that never ends......truly written in the concept style in which you can't really separate one song from the next. I too find myself looking at the track and wondering how I got to Track 7 so fast when I last looked at Track 3......I attribute this to getting immersed in the music, and not caring where I am or which song is it. I've always been addicted to concept discs anyway, so this would account for the love of the writing style they use here......

 

[General Zod]

***I totally agree with you on the blur factor .....and strangely, this is why I love the disc. It's like one long song that never ends......truly written in the concept style in which you can't really separate one song from the next. I too find myself looking at the track and wondering how I got to Track 7 so fast when I last looked at Track 3......I attribute this to getting immersed in the music, and not caring where I am or which song is it.

I can totally appreciate what you're saying, as I love that feeling of getting lost in an a record. However, in this case, the songs don't pass from 4 to 7 because I'm immersed, they pass because I've stopped paying attention at all and it's all faded into white noise.

It never ceases to amaze me how people who love the same genre, even the same sub genre, and even the same band can have such drastically different opinions on the same album. And of course, there is no right or wrong, it's just all about what resonates with the listener.

 

[Bryant]

It never ceases to amaze me how people who love the same genre, even the same sub genre, and even the same band can have such drastically different opinions on the same album. And of course, there is no right or wrong, it's just all about what resonates with the listener.

Absolutely. I won't hold it against you for too many years just because you don't like this VP release. >~ In all seriousness, when we fall head over heels with something, we all want others to get the same euphoria we do, as well as a pat on the back...... "yeah Bryant, your fave band Vanden Plas sure kicks ass !!"....... but it just doesn't work out that way all the time. I feel the exact same way as Uncle Larry does about this disc. However, he and I differ on FOG AND BD. I thought both were great. It is the beauty and the beast with music. We all have individual tastes.

PS As far as the review goes....... my off days were moved to Wednesday and Thursday.

Bryant

Bryant