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Vanishing Point: Dead Elysium
Vanishing Point - Dead Elysium Album Art

Vanishing Point: Dead Elysium

Melodic/Progressive/Power Metal
4.5/5.0

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AFM Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 19.08.2020 | Released: 28.08.2020

Through trials and tribulations, and a six year hiatus, Australia's Vanishing Point returns with their latest and sixth album, Dead Elysium. That's actually a real improvement. Their previous album, Distant Is The Sun, took seven years to hit the streets. The new album features the new additions of bassist Gaston Chin and drummer Damien Hall.

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Vanishing Point

To refresh our collective memories, Vanishing Point offers listeners twin guitar-driven melodic heavy power metal with a layer of keyboards and some progressive metal nuances. Characteristically, most songs are often fast, heavy, and dense (from the riffage and synths), yet quickly wrapped in strong melodies, guitar and vocal harmony, rock groove, and more than a few catchy refrains. Guitar solos abound across the songs, often in a neo-classical fashion. The songs are also ambitious and large, clocking in at six to seven minutes. I guess if you've been absent from the studio for six years, you might as well crank out as much music as humanly possible.

Moving on to some song highlights, for some tunes with power metal gallop and groove, listen for To The Wolves, The Healing, or Recreate The Impossible. For some instance of the aforementioned vocal harmony and a catchy refrain, check out Count Your Days or Dead Elysium. The latter song is also a fine example Vanishing Point adding synth nuances. Symphonic synths and light piano open the song before it turns fast and heavy. Synths and riffage combine to make the moderately paced Salvus both dense and heavy, yet the smooth vocal arrangement tempers all things. Perhaps the most "progish" song is Free which offers mixed tempos throughout, then about four minutes a quiet vocal breakdown over soft piano, only to rise heavy and then exit quietly.

All things considered, Dead Elysium is simply a fine return to form for Australia's Vanishing Point, offering fans a generous and entertaining album of their melodic power metal. Hopefully, we won't have to wait another six years for the next album. Recommended.



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The Bottom Line

All things considered, Dead Elysium is simply a fine return to form for Australia's Vanishing Point, offering fans a generous and entertaining album of their melodic power metal. Hopefully, we won't have to wait another six years for the next album. Recommended.

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