WATER BLUE

Vermilion Sands

Symphonic Prog

3.77 | 40 ratings

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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

Well here's a title that must be atop everyone's list of Symphonic releases that should be put back in print.

Japan's Vermilion Sands wears it's heart on it's sleeve and produced an album as beautiful as the cover art, a true homage to fantasy rock in a year when such albums could not have been too common.

The first track is a bit of a throwaway in my opinion, but starting with "ashes of the time" things get quite lovely. It's probably the standout track here. "in your mind" continues to build things with some nice electric leads. They never quite get back to the level of those two tracks though, and "living in the shiny days" is really quite annoyingly poppy. Vocalist Yoko Royama has a lilting and sweet voice. The pace of the songs is always quite slow to medium paced and measured, the instrumentation lush and full. The guitar work is tasteful and well played but could use a little more sweat.

There are a few other minor problems. The keys do sound a bit....well....80s at times. A little cheezy but not too bad. Also, as I said, the mood is very sweet and easy. While this works fine mostly it could actually use a little darkness or drama to balance the sweetness. If you like your prog mostly mellow and very uplifting/happy in spirit this won't be a problem.

A star rating is difficult for me here. Given the year of release it is special, had it come out in the classic 70s era it would pretty low on my priority list to recommend. It's a 3 plus album for me but not quite enough to round up to 4. My review uses the original album. Perhaps the Musea CD with the bonus live tracks would get another star. I hope I get to find out someday!

Finnforest | 3/5 | 2007-4-15

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