Progressive Power Metal: Vision Divine - Stream of Consciousness (2004)

81 / 100

A significant and neat development that marks a new future for Vision Divine.

Vision Divine entered a new chapter with the arrival of Michele Luppi, Oleg Smirnoff, and Matteo Amoroso as replacements on vocals, keyboards, and drums, resulting in their third album, Stream of Consciousness (2004). When I searched the title on Google, what appeared instead was the progressive-metal deity I have yet to defeat: Dream Theater, rather than this band’s album. This became its own challenge, since it forced me to re-examine that 2003 instrumental track. Does it influence the composition of this Vision Divine album? Unfortunately … yes, at least on the surface. What I could identify were the rhythmic patterns at 00:40–02:02 and 07:33–08:30, which appear in the intro section of “The Secret of Life.” That’s one example. I don’t want to inspect everything too deeply—doing so would be exhausting.

Judging from what’s presented here, Vision Divine delivers a far more conceptual album where the songs connect to each other, without forgetting the angelic figure on the cover. For example, the vocal snippet in the intro “Stream of Consciousness” reappears in the bridges of “Colours of My World,” and “Identities” later plays with that again in its ballad version. The album title Stream of Consciousness itself is referenced in “The Fallen Feathers.” The keyboard work becomes especially intense on “La Vita Fugge,” featuring a synth-piano segment that ends with a soaring vocal showcase. It then transitions into more typical prog-styled, synthetic keys on the next track, “Versions of the Game,” which also displays Luppi’s rapid-fire vocals in the bridge.

Next is “Shes,” which feels like Rhapsody of Fire and again borrows from Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565,” something I previously couldn't get in “Forgotten Worlds” from their debut. Honestly, I was going to end the discussion by saying that all these interludes plus “We Are, We Are Not” really didn’t need to exist—but then the guitar riff at 01:30 after the line “Nothing else to say” in “Out of the Maze” and the intro of “Through the Eyes of God” suddenly reminded me of Angra’s “Nothing to Say” and Symphony X’s “Sea of Lies,” dragging another expletive out of me. It’s slightly maddening—not just because they seem to copy other bands, but because these little surprises keep shocking my musical memory.

So, Stream of Consciousness isn’t entirely great, especially with several mid-tempo/ballad tracks that require more consideration. But for now, I’m ready to frame this album as Vision Divine’s best output so far—though there are still many albums left for me to hear. And oh—well—“We Are, We Are Not” actually isn’t that bad… strangely enough.