COLOURS IN THE SUN

Voyager is a Progressive Metal band from Australia that was founded in 1999. The band has released 7 albums since that time, however only Daniel Estrin (vocals, keyboards) remains from the original line up. "Colours in the Sun", released in November of 2019, is the 7th full studio release from the band, that now consists of Estrin along with Simone Dow (guitars), Alex Canion (bass, backing vocals), Scott Kay (guitars), and Ashley Doodkorte (drums). This album contains 10 tracks and has a total run time of over 42 minutes.

The music is described by the band as "epic electro progressive power pop metal". This pretty much sums up the music as the first track "Colours" as it comes barreling in full force with driving guitar and synths with a ear-catching melody and solid powerhouse vocals. The voice is smooth and clear with great tone and the sound is heavy and appealing. "Severomance" slows things to a moderate tempo, but goes for a brighter and poppier sound. Again, guitar hooks keep things on the heavy side while the vocal sections give a more lush sound. The vocals remind me somewhat of "Tears for Fears" Roland Orzabal, but the music itself is louder and more guitar-hook laden, yet bright and almost arena-like, however the heaviness at times can reach extreme sensibilities, but remain hook-based. "Brightstar" continues with this same attractive and rousing sound.

"Saccharine Dream" is a bit more dynamic in it's tempo changes, starting off a bit slower, but reaching hard driving, break neck speeds at times, with a more progressive style than previous tracks and a nice complex guitar solo. This is the longest track on the album at 5 and a half minutes, but takes time to explore different textures. "Entropy" features the vocals of guest Einar Solberg from "Leprous" who sings parts on the chorus with a wilder abandon. The instrumental break gives a reflective break from the straight-ahead power pop style of the overall feel of the album. "Reconnected" starts with a treated fast-piano riff which quickly gets overpowered by a djent-like guitar and drum explosion before settling into a chunky, tricky riff and more of the pop-sounding vocals. However, there is a much louder edge to this one, again bringing in progressive sensibilities in the bridge.

"Now or Never" is a short track that sounds very much like the alternative sound of the late 80s, vocals and all, you almost bet you are listening to Tears for Fears here. But it's over quickly and moves into another thick synth, hard pop track "Sign of the Times". AT this point, it has become obvious that the band is not deviating much from the anthemic-arena style heavy modern rock/pop sound. The sameness of the album is really showing itself, and continues to do so with "Water Over the Bridge" and the final track "Runaway", always just adding enough progressiveness however, to keep it all edgy.

What this perfectly-polished album lacks is more variety, as all of the tracks are hard-hitting, hook-laden, arena-style rockers. This music will be quite attractive to the masses, but only gives enough progressiveness to it all to keep it a bit above the standard heavy metal pop sound. There is definitely a lot more guitar than synth here, but the overall sound becomes too similar between the tracks. With a few listens, the music will definitely be stuck in your head with these infectious melodies and riffs, but the more simple pop approach to the songwriting here will probably make these songs wear out their welcome quickly. On the first listen, the music is very appealing with it's overall uplifting and exciting sound. After a few listens, it does tend to get a bit too much the same however, and the appeal loses it's impact. But those that love riff-driven, heavy rock/pop anthems will love this album. For me, it's a bit above average, but not enough to be considered excellent, just entertaining and appealing. The band's own description that I quoted at the beginning of this review does really explain the music, but it's a bit too much on the poppy side with not enough to be challenging.