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Progressive Power Metal: Vision Divine - Send Me an Angel (2002)

76 / 100
Send Me an Angel feels like Vision Divine tightening and enriching what they began on the debut.

Italian prog-power band Vision Divine continued their second long journey with Send Me an Angel in 2002. The main lineup remains the same as before—Olaf, Fabio, Andrea Torriccini, Mattia Stancioiu, and De Paoli—although I didn’t highlight this in the first album review. Guest musicians also increased this time, not only borrowing Ale Gatti’s vocals again but also bringing in Stephanie Jackson, Steve Scott, and guitarist Stefano Brandoni.

The dark red cover and the image of a figure carrying another person clearly hint at a more emotional and melancholic mood. The artwork is still handled by the same person, Simone Bianchi. I only recently learned that he also created the artwork for Labyrinth’s Sons of Thunder and the Timeless Crime EP—another thing I neglected to mention previously.

The intro, “Incipit,” connects straight into the title track “Send Me an Angel,” whose lyrics already reveal themes of loneliness. The music then surges a bit across the next two songs. The progressive action feels more intense here and generally stands out in the intro–verse–interlude–outro structure through a blend of guitar sweeps and synth keyboards. Piano tones appear in “Black & White,” making it fairly emotional—it even influences the mood of “The Call” and manages to outshine the main ballad, “Taste of a Goodbye.” Anger rises in the standout performance, “Apocalypse Coming,” before the album closes with the instrumental “Nemesis,” marked by its iconic cymbal hits.

Now, “Flame of Hate” leans more toward melodic power, following the spirit of “The Miracle” from the debut. And honestly, if this track didn’t exist, the album would still feel complete—or it might have worked better placed just before the ninth track. Vision Divine also still wants to try their hand at a pop cover, this time from A-Ha, “Take on Me,” and I definitely appreciate this one more than the Europe cover since it feels fresh and bold.

I thought I’d be bored with this album after multiple attempts without finding much resonance, but in the end, it’s not that far from the debut—pretty decent, actually. Even if calculated, the score is still stuck at 76:v.

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