Defiant Imagination

I live in Montreal, and for many people here Quo Vadis is the hometown-favourite band. This means that I have been witness to tons of controversy over the band splitting in half before recording this record. I’ve heard everything and anything from “Bart is an arrogant control freak”, to “Arie is an arrogant control freak”, to “it’s the best move they ever made”, to “Bart and Yanic had no right to keep the name”. What I say to anyone and everyone gossiping over Quo Vadis is: shut up. Listen to Defiant Imagination. All the time you spend gabbing is time that you’re not hearing quality heavy metal.

The record kicks off with solid proof that despite their frontman leaving, Quo Vadis found a more than capable replacement in Stéphane Parré. In my opinion his vocals outshine those of Arie on the two previous records. He has great stamina and tone, although a little variance in pitch would be appreciated for the next release.

Bass duties were tackled for Defiant by the one and only Steve DiGorgio. What an awesome spot of luck to have attracted his interest! Steve must have been happy as well, as the guys seem to have given him a freedom I had not heard him get outside of Sadus since Death’s Individual Thought Patterns. Luckily, Forest of Augury, one of the best and most unknown bass players in metal today, steps in live to tackle the four-string fretless insanity without breaking a sweat.

The guitars are of course the main drive of these songs. Beautiful melodies, flawless solos (pulled off tightly live as seen on their DVD Defiant Indoctrination) and classic deathy tech riffs. There is also a new jazziness in the guitars which takes the Quo Vadis sound to the next level beyond the strait Death worship of Day Into Night.

It can’t all be good though, unfortunately. The drums on this record, while being ultra-tight despite the breakneck speeds, are mixed a little too high. The same thing always happens with Cryptopsy records; the bands get lots of attention because of their drummers and just burden down the mixes with percussion to keep riding that hype. I would also suggest to Yanic that he chill out a little with the kick drums. Slow parts sometimes require, you guessed it, slow kicks! In many places Mr. Bercier is doing four hits for every one that is actually necessary.

The length of this album is also un-satisfactory. It is in the end what brings the score below a 90%. Perhaps when Arie quit at the last minute he left with songs that were supposed to be on here, but in that case I would have suggested holding off till they had one or two more tracks. With only 9 songs, two of them being non-metal interludes, the album is simply not long enough. Less than 40 minutes is only acceptable when you are speed/thrash or brutal death, styles which do not lend to extended listens.

I spin this record constantly regardless, and highly recommend Quo Vadis, old or new, to any fan of technical and melodic metal.