Vanden Plas - Far Off Grace

1. I Can See
2. Far Off Grace
3. Into The Sun
4. Where Is The Man
5. Iodic Rain
6. I Don't Miss You
7. Inside Your Head
8. Fields Of Hope
9. I'm In You
10. Kiss Of Death
     

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 59:54 m:s

Review date: 31/03/2000

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After reading the reviews I was expecting a Dream Theater influence and, in fact, that is what raised my interest in the band in the first place. However, I didn't expect it to so dominant. Imagine Dream Theater with a more song orientated and more straight forward musical approach. Forget about there being maybe a few other influences thrown in there because I can't find them.

It sounds as if the band have set out to recreate "Images & Words Vol. II". It seems pointless describing individual songs because I'm sure most Mood Swings readers will have at least heard a couple of Dream Theater songs and will be able to imagine how this album sounds. This type of behavior might be expected on a debut when a band is trying to find it own style, but not on a third album. It is only on the bonus track, "Kiss Of Death", where the formula gets broken when the band adopt a style more like Stratovarius than DT. A good part of the time the variation happens within songs rather than between songs, the result being that quite a few of the songs sound similar.

Taking on Dream Theater at such close quarters is a dangerous policy, because despite the fact that the songs are well written and well performed, the overwhelming conclusion after listening to the album is that although it is a valiant effort, the chemistry that makes Dream Theater so special just isn't here.