THE GHOST XPERIMENT - ILLUMINATION

This will give you an idea of what to expect in the following. First of all, I usually listen to the album when reviewing it. While writing about The Ghost Xperiment : Illumination, I surprised myself saying out loud several times : "OMG, OMG, is this good or what ?" Yes friends, this is a freaking good album. Expectations were high after the stellar Chronicles of the Immortals duo in 2014 and 2015. Unfortunately, these expectations were not quite met with Ghost Xperiment : Awakening last year. A disappointment for me to say the least even if the album was quite good actually. But what is good for a band may be fantastic for another. And for Vanden Plas, good is not enough. That brings us to part 2 of this again ambitious concept of two separate albums. Appropriately named, Illumination is the perfect title for this masterpiece because I think that's exactly what happened to Andy Kuntz and his lads : illumination ! Unlike Awakening, which offers a series of good Vanden Plas songs that could have been taken from any VP albums, with Illumination, we are blessed with 8 luminous tracks strongly linked to one an other in a crescendo of pure musical pleasure. With Illumination, we fully feel the evolution and the emotion of the concept. Throughout the album, guitarist Stephan Lill and bassist Torsten Reichert amaze us with extraordinary musicianship. Drummer Andreas Lill proves again that he is more than a skin banger. In the coda of The Lonely Psychogon, keyboardist Günter Werno demonstrates the scope of his talent on piano. And what to say about Andy Kuntz who sings as always like a prog metal angel. With this album, Vanden Plas stands, unrivaled, at the pinnacle of its craft. Have I said enough ? You've got to give The Ghost Xperiment : Illumination a try. You will thank me for that.

Tenth studio album for these German veterans after more than 3 decades of existence. And all original members remain. How incredible is that! Part one of The Ghost Xperiment was an ok album. But the Ghost Xperiment - Illumination is an absolute cracker. If both albums are listened together, may be the first part (Awakening) will sound better. I have spun this album 6-7 times till now and I can safely say that this is their best album till date with not a single below par song. Even the bonus track is amazing! Vocalist Andy Kuntz shines as usual with his trademark emotional, soaring and sweeping vocals. Fantastic playing by all the members. I particularly like the keyboard parts combined with infectious rhythm section.

The musical slap! Following the VANDEN PLAS since their debut in 1995 with "color temple", I have never stopped seeing them in concert. In the meantime, I have stored their albums like treasures; the beginning of 2000 hurt me when I saw them gradually disappear from the music scene, until a revival with "christ O" and albums with the original peach. A concert by them to verify that they are Dantesque on stage and here we are with this last opus; so why this preamble? "THE GHOST XPERIMENT - ILLUMINATION" is quite simply the illumination of your end of the year 2020 that you risk listening to in 2021 as everything is so magnificent about it; rhythmic parts, catchy riffs, Andy's always clear voice, divine piano parts reconciling metal and progression, long compositions that send heavy, everything is perfect and all the more surprising as I expected to an ersatz of their previous album. The little extra is always to associate their invasive synths with sound riffs and to link everything with Andy's voice to arrive at crescendo titles of any beauty. One thing is certain, getting old can lead to producing very beautiful things, run, run, poor fools and go get it if it is not yet done.

I have been a fan of Vanden Plas right from the beginning, but it must be said that I thought their last album was fairly workmanlike and contained little to make it essential. Given that it was the first part of a two-part concept, and here we have the second, there was little which had me looking forward to playing it. But just by putting this on for the very first time, I found myself falling in love with Vanden Plas all over again. There are very few bands who can say they have kept the same line-up since their formation in 1986, but Vanden Plas can, which is quite some achievement, although they do also utilize guests when the time is right. Andy Kuntz (vocals), Stephan Lill (guitar), Günter Werno (keyboards), Andreas Lill (drums) and Torsten Reichert (bass) have been joined by Alea from the leading German medieval rock band Saltatio Mortis for a duet on the bonus track "Krieg kennt keine Sieger", Snow White Blood singer Ulli Perhonen is here for "Black Waltz Death" and "The Ghost Engineers", while the backing vocalists include longtime musical colleagues Oliver Hartmann from Avantasia and Herbie Langhans from Firewind.

Everything which was wrong with the last one is right with this one, with loads of progressive elements over the metal without ever becoming overblown. Savatage are still a huge influence, with biting riffs and cutting lyrics, and vocals which are kept to the fore. The band have always been theatrical, performing their own rock opera as well as Jon Lord's 'Concerto For Group and Orchestra' while finalizing the album (because, why not?), and here it all gels together. Powerful and powering, here we have progressive metal as its finest. They may have lost their way with the last album, but they have more than recovered ground with this one, creating something which is simply epic. It crunches when it needs to, caresses when the time is right, and at the front there is Kuntz showing he is still the consummate frontman he has always been.

I mentioned in passing to a friend that I was listening to VDP the other day as I had to review it and he was immediately incredibly excited until I pointed out it was not a new release, but one from a year ago, and he promptly started telling me just how good they are and what a great album this is. We disagree on various matters, but this time he is right, German theatrical epic prog metal just doesn't get any better than this.