At Vance... ah I remember when they first hit the market. Nothing particularly special stood out about this band, they were simply another in a long line of power oriented outfits that were being marched out at the time. Except, for one special little gimmick. While the albums themselves were alright, spirited affairs that mimicked all the fantasy schlock that everyone else under the sun was recording, it was their covers that made them stand out of the crowd. Stand out of the crowd, on fire and screaming. They did ABBA covers, and did they ever do them well. Who knew that the Swedish pop princesses' light hearted disco era music could be turned into such thunderously catchy metal minded miracles? This made
At Vance stand out, and while they have shedded vocalists and members like a bird farting clouds of feathers during moulting season, they still have a fond little place in my heart etched out just because of those damn overly likeable ditties turned anthems.
At Vance has been whittled down to two members for this seventh outing, vocalist Rick Altzi and multi instrumentalist Olaf Lenk. Olaf provides all musical accompaniment to Rick's vocals, from guitars, bass, drums and backing pipes as well. When viewed as a two man band,
"VII" is quite an impressive feat.
Altzi has a terrific voice. Strong, powerful and completely masculine, he wrestles the material with finesse and power, a smashing performance indeed. Some throaty twists and just balls-out singing give this man an edge that some previous
At Vance mic helmers didn't quite have in their repertoire. The backing music is sweetly catchy and these two guys pound through a nice array of material ranging from the spooky backdrop of
"Shiver", the hard as a diamond
"Cold As Ice" - which is more straightforward but yet shines with a multi faceted approach that recalls hard rock favorites
Whitesnake during some choice moments, and the swift melodic kick of
"Friendly Fire".
"Lost In Love" is a cheesy romantic hearted acoustic burner that relies on Rick's wavery, drifty vocals that seem downright forlorn.
We are talking, totally broken, like a Viking that has lost his treasured axe (or sword or whatever medieval weapon you prefer to visualize) in a monster or off the ship into the ocean or some such.
"Answer Me" is another ballad-esque track, and really flaunts the better aspects of Altzi's range in a tender setting.
There are also some eye-rolling double drum thundering stuff like
"Golden Leaves" that pretty much speeds along with a velocity not unlike an ADD kid fueled into hyperocity on a half pound of candy coated M&Ms. This is the typical
Helloween stuff regurgitated for
"Now", leaving little to the imagination. However,
"Victory" also takes this approach but throws a few smoother sections in to break up the edgy pacing.
"Truth" is another uneventful piece that has been decorated up in this same style, except for a bit of a growl on the vocals to assist in "freshening" the overall feel. Altzi seems to be a mix of Mark Boals and Michael Vescera here. Hell, throw in
Jeff Scott Soto and you will have some kind of ex-Yngwie vocalist holy trinity on your hands. He's like all three of these men blended into one. The screams, the power, the swaggering ragged bleeding edges when needed. The music however is quite generic, double drum pound-pound material. Power fans that require nothing more than a decent vocalist, "fantasy dark" lyric material, and some axe slinging will be satisfied with tracks like these. Everyone else will be searching for the skip button to get to the good stuff like
"Shiver".
With the release of
"VII",
At Vance has proven that they neither need quirky cover songs, a stable full of musicians or even a stable lineup to be successful or memorable. At its heart, the band is simply Olaf Lenk and whomever he deems suitable to come stringing along for the ride. Ex-Treasure Land fronter Rick Altzi is his man this time, and the two of them have worked through a nice string of power tracks. Not all of them are groundbreaking, but there's enough heart of steel and flicker of originality hiding between the lines to make it a disc that is worth a second look. It's not going to be up for album of the year or anything, but it *is* a logical progression in the
At Vance timeline and a solid CD in its own right.
Of course the cover also has art that prominently features naked chicks, always a bonus right? Oh so scandalous!
Written by
Alanna Friday, September 14, 2007
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