QUO VADIS

If memory serves [it does], a recommendation from an interview Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop) did with Alexander Jones of Undeath (see the video 'These Albums Will Punish You'), Defiant Imagination is the third and final studio album by Canadian Progressive/Technical Death Metal group Quo Vadis. As mentioned in their bio here, significant to this album is the inclusion of bassist Steve DiGiorgio as a session musician. Previously, DiGiorgio had performed and recorded with bands [in chronological order] such as Autopsy, Death (specifically on such important albums as Human and Individual Thought Patterns) and Testament, and later with Sebastian Bach, Christian Muenzner (Obscura, Necrophagist), Soen, and most recently Megadeth (in 2021). I feel I haven't reviewed much Tech Death recently and this was a good one to dip my toes back in.

Defiant Imagination begins off with power on "Silence Calls the Storm", with a relatively melodic approach, the riffs are glancing back. The drums are absolutely ablaze, performed by Yanic Bercier, but then there's the bass! Of course, looking at the bands and projects on which DiGeorgio was a part, it's all making sense. Jazzy, but flying all over the fretboard. I would argue the track is pretty straightforward Death Metal, but then here in the end, as if mimicking seagulls or some other winged thing, Bart Frydrychowicz closes out "Silence" with a guitar solo, met then with bass over a slowed, cleaner outro. "In Contempt" is another fiery inferno [You've been warned: this is the only idiom I can come up with today haha] with a forward drive to keep you going, too. Delicious guitar solo here, but really the whole is very masterfully done already. Much more quick to the punch then the opener.

With a guitar tone that could have even been found in Hard Rock of the late-70s, "Break The Cycle" sways in and out of something sonically totally other within the context of Death Metal. Just very interesting! This tone returns around minute 2 for a delightfully Watchtower-esque section [Ron Jarzombek be praised!] [Apparently Ron's brother Bobby is the current drummer for Country legend George Strait?!... What?!...]. Quirky and rigid, but dark. And then the solo!!! Yaaaaa!!! Mr. Bart is not to be f*cked with! Haha! Best of the bunch thus far. Well balanced as the album has been, "Tunnel Effect (Element of the Ensemble IV)" kicks off with fire. Very interesting choice of dropping out the instruments at one point for solo vocals from their gruff-toned frontman Stephane Pare... It's hard to say whether I'm hearing influence here in vocal style from Hardcore in general, Thrash in particular or something more stylistically 'muddled' like Alt- / Nu-Metal. Or even Industrial? The only real point of interest is what I would consider the instrumental bridge, which frankly is still wildly more complex than I can truly understand haha.

What this band accomplished rhythmically is one of its greatest tools, and hearing the interplay of the entire band, working together for the biggest heft on "To The Bitter End", is a great example of this. If simple rhythms can be spruced up in any way, you might have got me. And here, hard not to praise once more guitarist Frydrychowicz (Fry Dry?!). Regardless, another track with classic Metal riffage. Compositionally, I'm not overly impressed with the whole, though there's a lot that I would personally struggle to accomplish instrumentally (an understatement). Anyways, great track either way [Trying to be cognizant of me and the site standards]. They do kill it.

Up next is the interluding(?) "Articulo Mortis", which features a small string (cello?) ensemble and dark-black chamber-style vocals. What a choice! This runs seamlessly into "Fate's Descent", immediately brutal and heavy. This feels like it has just that little bit more Tech-Death magic we got on the frontend of the album. A guitar solo is then eventually broken up across highly melodic riffs. Pretty epic. Approaching the end, we then get "Dead Man's Diary", with a low and slow rhythm which progressively picks up by way of kickdrum. The bass sounds awesome in the intro, and this feels overall like another challenge for the band, which I think they more than overcame. The guitar here is not mixed balls to the wall, wall-to-wall, so this song has a totally different vibe than the remainder of the album. Interesting, for sure... Not necessarily their strongest suit. Even so, delighted to hear clean guitars once more, all while the double kick is literally on fire haha [Yes, I know what the word 'literally' means, hand on my heart]. This is followed by our sub-minute closer, "Ego Intuo Et Servo Te" (Latin for "I See And Save Thee"), which is another number with strings and those same chamber-esque group vocals, but this time with a really tastefully done sorta string-pluck midi sound. Neat.

Very glad I listened. Its weakest moments certainly didn't sully its strongest.

True Rate: 3.75/5.00

Yet another death metal band from Montreal, Quo Vadis became my sixth extreme metal purchase from the city of my birth. I had originally put 'Defiant Imagination' in my Amazon shopping cart, reviews all seemed to insist that while that album was really good, 'Day Into Night' was just a little bit better.

The music served up here is mostly very classy, skillfully played, high speed thrash metal with a strong technical side, not unlike early nineties Megadeth. It's nothing like the brutal metal of Cryptopsy, the melodic death of Kataklysm, or the exotic multi-faceted music of uneXpect. Instead it's fast-paced with some ear-catching drumming and some great, fretboard-burning guitar work. Perhaps because of the higher tone guitar sound, I am reminded of early Metallica and Exodus while at the same time thinking of Annihilator and Megadeth for the technical playing.

Most of the album plays through fast, and drummer Yanic Bercier stands out for his speed and skill. One thing to appreciate are the riffs, which come as deftly-played technical riffs, traditional, melodic bar-chord riffs, and simple speedy, thrash-based riffs. Though most of the lead guitar work is not unique, it is nice to hear a band put as much emphasis on lead playing as Quo Vadis do on this album, as several of the death metal albums I have brought home recently don't lean toward solos very noticeably. Aside from speed and blisters, Quo Vadis have a prettier side which they exhibit on 'Dream' and 'Point of No Return: Cadences of Absonance'. There's a puzzling short instrumental called 'Night of the Roses' which seems to be an intro to 'I Believe' but is treated as a separate track for some indiscernible reason.

Muscially, the album is extremely well executed; however, a few words must be said about the vocals. Four tracks, 'Absolution (Element of the Ensemble III)', 'On the Shores of Ithaka', and the two 'Point of No Return' tracks that conclude the album feature both brutal death metal growls and a second vocal that sounds like deep breaths rasped against the back of the throat. I am sure I have heard this vocal style before, perhaps in the late eighties, and for no better comparison, I think the vocals sound like Dave Mustaine attempting death vocals. Now these songs that feature both vocals are, in my opinion, the best ones on the album because I really like the death growls as the lead vocal with the raspy throat vocal as a secondary vocal style. Unfortunately, the other tracks feature only the latter style of vocals and I'm afraid on their own I don't think they sound that great. To my ears, it sounds like someone who can't do death growls but can't do a thrash shout either is trying to make up a style somewhere in between and it doesn't impress me. In other reviews I have read though, people say they really like the vocals of Arie Itman. So it's all a matter of preference really.

All in all, it's a very solid album musically, and if you don't mind the vocals then it's also an album worth checking out.

Defiant Imagination is the third studio album from Canadian technical extreme metal act Quo Vadis. It´s been four years since their last studio album Day Into Night (2000) but in the meantime Quo Vadis released the Passage In Time (2001) compilation album. I have yet to be impressed by Quo Vadis music which I have found promising but not really good on the two previous albums.

The music on Defiant Imagination continues down the same thrashy death metal path as on the two previous albums. They have added a few more melodic elements but that´s about it for progression. As on the two previous albums Defiant Imagination seriously lacks highlights and after listening to the album it´s almost impossible to point out which songs were interesting. It´s not a bad album by any means, but it´s very average/ run of the mill technical thrashy death metal.

The musicianship is excellent an in addition to mentioning the fantastic drummer Yanic Bercier it´s also noteworthy that Steve DiGiorgio ( Sadus, Autopsy, Scariot, Freak Neil Inc., Sebastian Bach & Friends, Artension, Control Denied, Dark Hall, Death, Dragonlord, Funeral, Iced Earth, Suicide Shift, James Murphy, Testament, Vintersorg) plays the bass on the album.

The production is good. Typical clean modern metal production.

After listening to all Quo Vadis albums ( the first three) I´ve come to the conclusion that it´s in the songwriting department that the band lacks the last to become really good. Their songs are simply not very memorable. For a good but very average album I´ll give a 3 star rating. Defiant Imagination is by far the best album out of the first three though and if you want to check out Quo Vadis I suggest that you start here.

Passage In Time is a compilation album from Canadian technical extreme metal act Quo Vadis. It´s a collection of re-recordings, live versions and demo tracks. Quo Vadis play technical thrashy death metal which at times remind me of Death.

Vital Signs 2000 is a re-recording of a demo track from Quo Vadis self-titled demo from 1995 and it´s one of the more interesting songs on this compilation album. I´m not sure but I think As one is a new song and it´s in the typical thrashy death metal style. The Hunted (Hunter-Killer Remix) is a remix of The Hunter song from Quo Vadis second album Day Into Night (2000). Dysgenics and Point of No Return - Mute Requiem are live versions of the two songs also from Day Into Night. Pretty good live versions IMO. The last four songs on Passage In Time is from the self-titled 1995 demo. The songs have been re-mixed and re-mastered.

The musicianship is as usual very good.

The production varies as the newly recorded studio songs have great sound. The live songs have a pretty good sound and the demo songs have good demo quality sound.

Passage In Time is a fan release and newcommers to Quo Vadis should not start here. It´s very seldom that I find compilation releases with demo material and re-recorded versions of old songs interesting and that is also the case with Passage In Time. 2 stars is all I can give.

Day Into Night is the second studio album from Canadian extreme metal act Quo Vadis. Released four years after their debut album Forever...(1996), Day Into Night was expected to be ( at least I expected it to be) a massive improvement over the somewhat inconsistent yet promising debut album.

The music hasn´t developed the way I pictured it would, and I wonder what the four years between album releases were spend doing. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but I´m a bit disappointed that Quo Vadis technical thrashy death metal hasn´t become more memorable or interesting than was the case on the debut.

The musicianship is excellent and as in my review of Forever... I would like to mention drummer Yanic Bercier for his skilled playing.

The production is a notch better than on the debut and it has a large part in the last star I will rate the album.

The promise for greater things is still present on Day Into Night. But it´s still only a promise and not a fulfilled dream. Day Into Night is better than the debut but seen in comparison with other tech extreme metal albums the album is very average ( not bad though) without any real highlights. A small 3 star rating from me might be a star too much.

Forever... is the debut studio album from Canadian extreme metal act Quo Vadis. They play a style of technical thrashy death metal on Forever... that I normally love but in this case I ´m a bit biased.

The music is technical death metal. Quo Vadis doesn´t remind me of any certain band but some of the riffs are similar to the thrashy death metal riffs played by Death. The vocals are extreme and alternates between deep death metal growls and more aggressive thrashy vocals. There are even a hardcore vocal used in Inner Capsule [Element of the Ensemble part II]. So the vocals are pretty varied. In the last track Sans Abris which is taken of a demo from Quo Vadis there´s also female operatic vocals. That particular song has a different and more primitive production than the rest of the songs. My favorites on the album is album opener Legions of the Betrtayed and the powerful and fast Pantheon of Tears.

The musicianship is very good and I want to mention drummer Yanic Bercier for his excellent drumming on the album.

The production is not very good and it does drag the album down a bit. It´s not unbearable to listen to, but there is a demo quality element in the sound and it´s like the sound changes between the songs which means that some songs sound allright while others lack power.

Forever... is an inconsistent album which is a bit of a shame as the good parts on the album are pretty good and well deserving a 3 star rating while the ( too) many bad parts drag the album down to a 2 star rating. I´m expecting great things from Quo Vadis on later albums though, as they definitely have something that intrigues me.

I picked up this album because I'm a fan of well-played metal. Saying that, I can recommend this album to those that like bands like Death, but not to people that like more melodic bands like Opeth. It has it's moments but there is nothing on this album that blows me away or makes me want to share it with others. I have listened to the album a number of times and during each listen I couldn't help thinking that there was so much more that this band could offer. They certainly show off that they can play fast (especialy the drummer) but I felt that they certainly didn't do much more than that. I prefer a melodic approach to metal rather than just speed, and rythmn. The drummer certainly needs to learn to lay off the bass drums. If you like hearing 64th notes played on the bass drums for what seems like an eternity, then this is the album for you.

You could compare this band to both Opeth and Meshuggah. They have the occasional melodic sections like Opeth (little to no clean vocals though) and they have the rythmn proficiency (almost) of Meshuggah, but I am more likely to put in an Opeth album because of the melodic variety offered.

I was certainly dissapointed in the length of the album. I picked it up because I saw there were 9 tracks and that should offer a decent length. But the album comes in at just UNDER(!!!) 40 minutes. Just when the album was getting started, it was over.

I am happy to support a Canadian band, being Canadian myself but I just can't recommend this album. I has it's moments but they are just too few and far between.

Since the beginning of the album, we found what we're gonna listen the 40 minutes it lasts. To anybody who doesn't enjoy the most brutal music founded that side of technicity (I've heard much more brutal music, but hardly have technic) they're being afraid of what they're listen, but this is Technical-Progressive-Death-Metal, I'd told you.

On 1st track we have a graet opener for an album of that kind, although at 3:41 we found an outro solo of grat magnitude who demonstrates we are listening to a very capable musicians (especially playing fast).

In the second track we have an absolute amount of the feeling this music provides to the listener, being a rollercoaster of sound who elevates you to that sensation of giving a piggyback, watching the horrors of life this music expresses so well.

On 3rd track we have a great start for a song which emphatises more in feeling, with that soloist lines we found in here. This is one of the best songs I've heard in Metal. It provokes me goosebumps the form we use the ultra-fast guitar rythm and the gutural voice at the end of the track.

The 4th song, "Tunnel Effect", is the fourth part of a saga already classic for Quo Vadis. At that level of the album, I realise the better use of the voice of 2nd vocalist, doing the reply of the main voice. At middle section we found a great rythmic guitar plenty of speed, a great riff I can at very least smile when hearing.

At this point we found in track 5 the same style offered before, a lot of technique at the service of musical aggression. The solo found here is so Schuldiner-ish I realised how much this man did for the style. This one is perhaps the most dense track of the entire album.

For some ear-rest, here in 6th track we found some cello and an operistic opus sang in latin, a filler track who informs the end (of the album) is near. It suits perfectly with the album, being not the first time this group uses cello to complement their wall of sound.

At track 6 we have another technician piece of music, feeling the bass in consonance with that scorching rhythm.

On the 7th cut we found some melodies never heard before in this album. Is one of the most epic song in the album, and we hear the "natural" voice of the singer (yes! he can speak too!), but for little time. Again he uses his shredded voice, combining with the other one. The drumming in the entire album is superb, demonstrating being one of the most sucessful drummers in Death Metal nowadays.

The last track is a beatifully arranged outro song leaving you a feeling that you've listen a complex and beautiful album (in the extreme end feelings of anger and sorrow), being the peak of their discography.

If you like Technical Metal (Death, Atheist) you've gotta love this piece of extreme art. I'm reticent to give 5 stars gratuitously, so I give it 4 stars, whom is the right rate (I think).

This album is, in essence, only a new song, live versions, the 1st demo and a newer version.

On Track 1 we found a newer version of "Vital Signs", called now "Vital Signs 2000", in which we found they cut off the calm-down (soothe) intro founded in the original one. Since we found the original version and the newer one in the same album, is very easy to compare. There are little more variations between the two songs, being the recording quality one of them. The sound in this track is far better (IMO) than the original, as well the drums are stronger, supplying with more fury.

On Track 2 there is a new track (the only in the entire album), which makes it the only surprise in the LP. On Track 3 they made a remix of the "Hunter-Killer" original track, being chopped down it's 1:30 final minutes. Tracks 4 & 5 are only live versions of two tracks of their previous album. Nothing remarkable, just the qualities you can find in any other live version. From now to end, we found something who can be interest of somebody who cannot be able to find their demo-debut album, with of course a mayor production level expected in a re-issue.

This album, in my opinion, only can be described as a filler between two "true" studio albums, being a reissue of their demo with filler tracks to calm the curiosity of a die-hard fan of this band.

Your excuse to buy it is to complete your collection or to obtain the Quo Vadis demo.