Defiant Imagination

After four years, Quo Vadis has finally struck back with a new album. I first heard a leak of it on the internet, a couple days before it was released. With that being said, that night I placed my preorder for it, and within no time, I found it in my mailbox.

So, as soon as you put this thing on, we get some cool intro with single-stroke snare and guitar locking together. As soon as the instruments come together, everything pleases your ear and comes together quite well. As usual, Quo Vadis gives us that fast, crisp double kicking fans have grown to love and expect, as done by Yanic Bercier. Yanic will not disappoint; his cymbal and foot work are fantastic as always.

This disc is really quite diverse. I don't like it as much as their debut "Forever...", but I do like it slightly more than "Day Into Night". This album is just a bit more diverse than "Day Into Night". The first track on here when the piano comes in reminds me exactly of Dark Tranquillity. Not to mention in the same song, it has a beautiful outro which is a nice touch to a great song. Then you get a lot of fast riffing, and a lot faster than that of "Day Into Night".

I think the vocals are kind of weak when compared to Quo Vadis' first album. The vocals on "Forever" were a lot more diverse. Here they basically sound like newer Dark Tranquillity, maybe a bit harsher. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's just not what they used to be. But, as a friend pointed out to me, Steve DiGiorgio's incredible fretless bass makes up for the absence of diverse vocals. A lot of times in death or thrash metal, the bass is generally not interesting. Steve DiGiorgio on the other hand smacks you right upside the head with his blistering fast bass doodling, and goes everywhere on the neck of his bass. Excellent choice of the Quo Vadis guys for picking him up for this album.

Also featured on this album are some neat interludes between songs. Some may view them as filler, but they are so well crafted that they'll keep your interest, and they're not overdone either.

Something I would've liked to see Quo Vadis do is incorporate blast beats into their music, and possibly get that violin back into their music. That's another thing missing on this album when compared to their debut; the violin really made them stand out. Quo Vadis is one of the few technical bands that uses a lot of consonant melody and classical aesthetics in their music; which at first glance when reading would think of them as being a melodic death metal band, but they are much above and beyond that label. But maybe for next time they can do that. They've definitely become a lot more melodic over time, but still stay fast and technical. Which automatically puts them on top of a lot of their competition.

Overall, this disc is really good. I wasn't disappointed, but obviously they are never going to top "Forever". It'll be interesting to watch Quo Vadis evolve over the years, because they are full of talented musicians and writers. Anyone can get into this album right away due to it's melodic nature. Buy it and support the band, it's well worth it.