Style: Progressive Metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Ayreon, Kansas, Shadow Gallery
Review by: Sam
Country: Germany
Release date: 28 January, 2002
Chronological order is generally seen as the natural way of covering something, and usually I would agree with that sentiment, but sometimes I prefer the “whatever feels right in the moment” way of doing things. Once again, we’re doing Vanden Plas, and I’m still ignoring my upcoming Boss Blades and Ars Moriendi reviews. Anyway, I don’t have an elaborate narrative for this album and how it places within the band’s discography or within progressive metal history at large. Beyond Daylight slaps, and I’m here to tell you why.
The band’s previous album Far Off Grace was cool and all and got the band a lot of new fans with its straightforward approach, but for me it never did much besides the title track (please ignore the fact that I have listened to the album over 20 times according to last.fm). Beyond Daylight however, blew me away the moment I heard it. “Why are all these choruses so good? What’s with the dreamy folk atmosphere that’s everywhere all of a sudden? HOLY SOLOS SPANK ME DADDY!” OK, let’s wind that back a little shall we?
But really, the solos are good. And so are the choruses. Like, unreal level good. Even the kinda boring ballad “Can You Hear Me” has an extremely catchy chorus. Christ 0 may have been balanced and spread its longer songs out evenly over the record, but here they just thought you know what? Let’s just make banger song after banger song and for the rest, who cares? They’ll be too busy eargasming over the melodic solos and ascending to a plane of sweet smelling (scarlet?) flowers over the atmosphere. Throw in some sweet riffs and great vocal lines and they won’t have the time to think about that other nonsense.
Like, just listen to “Scarlet Flower Fields”, or “End of All Days”, or literally any other of the first five songs. The atmosphere is wonderfully ethereal, the guitarwork is face melting, and the vocal melodies enthralling. And dude those transitions??? How is this even real. And again, THOSE SOLOS CALM DOWN STEPHAN, GUNTER; I NEED TO SLEEP. And then you think you can’t climax any further but “Free the Fire” opens the second half with a banging adrenaline rush. It’s the closest Vanden Plas has ever gotten to power metal with its high tempo and anthemic chorus. It grabs you by the balls in the best way possible. “Phoenix” is similar, but it adds more prog and atmosphere like in the first half to the mix. The title track takes everything the album’s done so far and uses it to create a wonderful journey through magical sonic landscapes. This one’s a little denser than the other songs on the album, but once it reveals itself it completely sucks you in its world and doesn’t let go. I highly recommend listening to it with the lyric sheet.
Compared to my other two reviews, this one’s a little short (and 200% more unhinged). But sometimes, that’s all you need. Beyond Daylight is a collection of extremely well-written songs coated in magical mushrooms and if you have any love for melodic prog metal LISTEN TO IT NOW OKAY TIME FOR BED WHY AM I WRITING THIS AT 3AM?! Oh yeah, there’s also a Kansas cover at the end that’s worth listening to I guess. WHATEVER JUST LISTEN TO THIS AAAAA BYE.
Recommended tracks: Scarlet Flower Fields, Free the Fire, Beyond Daylight
You may also like: Tanagra, Venus in Fear, Karma Rassa, Darkwater (bandcamp)
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: InsideOut Music – Facebook | Official Website
Vanden Plas is:
– Andy Kuntz (vocals)
– Stephan Lill (guitars)
– Torsten Reichert (bass)
– Andres Lill (drums)
– Gunter Werno (keyboards)
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