TUNNELVISION

Tunnelvision were a Helsinki-based Finnish prog metal band that released two albums some twenty years ago. I'm certainly not a metal listener, but I daresay they had a lot of potential for a wider success. Here in ProgArchives only two reviews for the second album Tomorrow (2002) have been written, none for this debut which is perhaps more progressive and better.

Technical capacity is pretty high concerning the whole quintet. By the way, bassist Lauri Porra (whose band history includes a better known metal group Stratovarius) is one of the most respected Finnish bass players and he has also become an excellent and eclectic solo artist and composer. The true progressive soul of the original line-up was however keyboard player Kari Tornack. According to the band interview in the Finnish prog magazine Colossus, he admired bands such as Yes and U.K. The album info here says that on keyboards is Vili Ollila, but I understood he replaced Tornack for the second album. I may be wrong. Comparing the albums I do think the keys sound brighter and more melodic -- in a proggy way -- on the debut.

Tunnelvision declared to combine the prog tradition with modern metal. Well, the world is full of Dream Theater followers, but Tunnelvision succeeded in their goal better than their low level of fame and the brief career would imply. Guitarist Juhani Malmberg's style is mostly rather typical for the metal genre as is the high speed rhythm section, but there are also plenty of Neo Prog elements in the group's sound, and for this thing one must thank especially the keyboards reminiscent of Clive Nolan's work on Arena and other bands.

The vocalist Marko Waara also makes me think of Arena since his powerful and passionate expression reminds me of Rob Sowden. Perhaps even more closely his voice resembles Midge Ure of Ultravox -- only with a more metallic edge of course.

For the compositional structures this album could admittedly be more progressive. Instead of containing many shortish pieces, a more epic approach would fit very well together with the Neo-ish sound. Anyway, I think they lost some of the prog spirit on their second and last album which is a more average work of melodic metal. If you like THRESHOLD, you might like to check out Tunnelvision.

After a single audition of this album and I felt instant love and sympathy for this band from the cold FINLAND!!!TUNNELVISION have something that makes instantly catchy and attractive their music!It's nothing breathtaking,but it's well done and the melodic aspect is the main idea of the band!For some fans,well,pretentious fans of prog metal,thetYwill say that TUNNELVISION are a PAGAN'S MIND clone!From the point of view of the vocalist,yes,that's true,there are many accords when MARKO WAARA sings almost identically to Niels from PAGAN'S MIND,but from the technical aspect,there is still a long way for TUNNELVISION to reach the masterful qualities of the Norvegians,that's for sure !!The same nosy voice like Niels K RUE and accord,but definitelly the Fin guy has his own personality!The structure of the songs is very clever melodic orientated,and the main purpose of the band is to display their sense of composition,but the technical aspect is important too!Very fine and inspired choruses and themes,easily recognisable and instantly pleasant!The use of the keyboards is very beautiful, with a modern sound and sometimes a spatial vibe!The guitar player Juhani is pushing some grea solos,but the sound and tone of the guitar in harmony riffs is simply excellent!The songs are mainly midtempo and there are plenty of long inspired instrumental passages,that's why the length of the album is a little more than 1 hour!The main quality of the album is the fact tahat there are no weak tracks,all are at a very high level and it's so regretable thet they have disbanded,because nothing new about this band was heared from a long time! They fortunatelly had their moment of glory....I don't know if they could have surpass the Norvegian s PAGAN'S MIND,but I am sure that TUNNELVISION had a huge potential that was never plenty revealed .4 SOLID Stars for a very good prog metal album ,full of excellent compositions ,produced by some extremelly capable musicians!

Tunnelvision is an unknown progressive metal band from Finland, releasing only two albums since now. The second album named Tomorrow from 2002 is a real pleasure to listen if you are fan of bands like Pagan's Mind or Artension. What strikes me to this band is the melodicity of the album as a whole, very well is melted the rougher moments with the more mellow ones, realy great. The instrumental passgeas are very well done, from blistering key solos to guitar riffs and solos of real calibre. The voice of Marko Waara is very good for this kind of music, feets like a glove, alterning from rough to mellow in places. Tunnelvision is similar in arrangements with another well known band from Scandinavia Pagan's Mind, they are not a copy they have their own sound with a lot to offer. All the pieces stands as very good, not a weak moment, Silence, The Hermit (Wait And See) or Don Juan's Triumph are examples of solit prog metal, pieces that for sure will please many of the prog metal listners. I will give 4 stars easy, while are not so great like Pagan's MInd or Artension and bring nothing new in this genre, they are very solid band with talented musicians.