It’s not unusual for me to first hear about a band when a
\npackage arrives in my mailbox. It’s not unusual for me to utter the
\nphrase, “Who the hell are these guys?” about three times a day –
\nand that’s after I’ve read through their bios.<\/p>\n
One other thing you’ll hear coming from the Pierce Memoral
\nArchives – albeit not as often – is me saying, ”
\nWhy<\/i> haven’t I heard these guys before?” That was my reaction
\nwhen listening to
\nSpirit Of Live<\/i>, the first live album from German
\nprog-metallers Vanden Plas. Reminiscent of what the Scorpions might
\nsound like if they were to start their careers in the late ’90s,
\nvocalist Andy Kuntz and crew create a disc which is almost
\nimmediately accessible for all listeners. You don’t have to be
\nfamiliar with this group’s discography to enjoy these songs –
\nthough you’ll undoubtedly be left wanting to hear more by the
\nend.<\/p>\n
European listeners are given a special treat – a rendition of
\nDokken’s “Kiss Of Death,” complete with vocals from Don Dokken
\nhimself. Regrettably, this track isn’t available on the U.S.
\nrelease (though the substitute “bonus” track “You Fly” is quite
\ngood). The European version also includes “I Don’t Miss You” –
\nthough I’ll admit I miss not having these tracks here in America.
\n(And people wonder why Napster was so popular…)<\/p>\n
The band – Kuntz, guitarist Stephan Lill, keyboardist
\nG\u00fcnter Werno, bassist Torsten Reichert and drummer Andreas
\nLill – magically captures the spirit of progressive rock without
\nmaking things sound overtly technical in the song structures or the
\nperformances. From the opening number “I Can See,” Vanden Plas
\ntries to distinguish themselves from the swarm of groups that have
\nfollowed this vein of metal in recent years. They indeed accomplish
\nthis with a combination of powerful tempered performances and
\nwell-structured songwriting. If some label had given Vanden Plas a
\nchance in the United States some years ago, they’d be superstars
\nright now.<\/p>\n
Tracks such as “Into The Sun,” “How Many Tears,” “Rainmaker”
\n(featuring Patrick Rondat) and “Soul Survives” not only win over
\nthe Parisian audience, but also the listener sitting at home in
\nfront of their stereos. It’s nearly impossible not to become
\ninfected with the joy of this music, and
\nSpirit Of Live<\/i> is a great effort.<\/p>\n
If there is any moment of energy sagging, it would be during the
\ninstrumental “segues” “Journey To Paris” and “Spirit Of Life,”
\nthough each of these is a full-length song. While they’re still
\nsolid examples of what Vanden Plas is capable of, it does tend to
\nbreak the spirit of the moment by switching musical gears.
\nFortunately, the energy rises back up one track later with “Iodic
\nRain”.<\/p>\n
\nSpirit Of Live<\/i> is a wonderful introduction to the music of
\nVanden Plas – or it’s a nice way to sum up the band’s career to
\nthis point. Whichever way you look at it, this is an album you
\nwon’t want to miss out on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7653],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39552","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-vanden-plas","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39552"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}