STRANGER VISION – Faust Act I

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6.5

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Stranger Vision reach their third full-length, after two excellent albums such as “Poetica” and “Wasteland”. As usual, the Emilian band tries to propose its own musical vision, always rich in literary references: if the previous album was in fact inspired by the poem “The Waste Land” by Thomas S. Eliot, this time the chosen subject is that, certainly also most famous, of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's “Faust”, in which, as is known, the protagonist makes a pact with the devil.
In this regard, the band however opts to articulate the plot over the course of two albums, so this first part is entitled “Faust – Act I, Prelude To Darkness”.
This choice, as we will see, inevitably has very specific consequences: in any case, the tracklist begins in a very classic way, with an instrumental intro, and then starts with some excellent songs, in their typical style characterized by melodic metal, with prog and neoclassical veins. Already from “Strive” we can see how Stranger Vision are looking for a highly technical approach, especially in Riccardo Toni's guitar work, truly of the highest level, but also fast and powerful, with a disruptive rhythm section and Ivan Adami's voice which she tries to appear as “bad” and feisty as possible.
“Nothing Really Matters” is really beautiful, where James LaBrie of Dream Theater appears as a guest, but the following songs “Look Into Your Eyes” and the more melodic “Two Souls” are not bad either, where Adami duets with a female voice, that of Angelica Patti.
Next, however, we must notice how the tracklist continues a bit in fits and starts, with other songs interspersed with various orchestral tracks or which act as intros, which have the effect of breaking up the rhythm of the album too much. The choice to opt for a concept album leads in many cases to allowing oneself to be too 'caged' by the plot and perhaps to insert a series of themes or interludes which may possibly be functional to it, but which from a musical point of view are perhaps not truly essential.
This aspect is further complicated by the fact that not only is it a concept album, but this album only represents the first part of it, so we really struggle to express a fully convinced opinion, without having an overall vision.
Furthermore, the handful of songs that we find in the second part of the tracklist do not seem to us to be characterized by brilliant songwriting in the same way as the first songs: “In Principium” does not particularly convince us, where, moreover, not even the effect given by the alternation between Latin and English in the chorus. On “Dance Of Darkness” there is a greater presence of keyboards which works very well and we liked it a lot, but on the other hand the refrain is a bit weak, just as we are not thrilled with “Carpe Diem”, where some passages are really beautiful, but overall some solutions do not convince us; however, the following “Fly” seems to work a little better, which made us think a bit of Temperance in the construction of the vocal and melodic lines. The final “New Life” is another orchestral piece, which leaves a total sense of incompleteness, inevitably referring us to the second part.
In short, if Stranger Vision had so far accustomed us to works of great impact, in some way direct but at the same time worthy of being studied in depth and capable of growing with listening, with this new album, despite an excellent start, at a certain point everything appears rather dilated, broken up, interspersed with different things with respect to which we cannot yet glimpse an overall vision that allows us to draw the threads. Even the inspiration of the songs appears not very spontaneous, forced to be channeled into the plot and the themes covered.
We therefore reserve the right to express a more convinced opinion once we have listened to the second part: for now, it is clear that something is missing in this one, at least on a narrative level, but even on a musical level we do not find, except in flashes, the usual brilliance and lucid intuitions that made us appreciate the first two albums so much.
The skill of the musicians, the talent and the professionalism are all there, so this first act is also pleasant and well done, but evidently this basic choice pays off a little in its partial and interlocutory nature: we do not exclude, however, that it could be re-evaluated and valued more once the work is complete.