VANDEN PLAS – Beyond Daylight

A little better than “Far Off Grace”, but still not quite as good as the masterpiece “The God Thing”, Vanden Plas have made another record with mid-tempo riffing, clean vocals, well done keyboards and nice melodies that slowly get to your brain. As much as I would like to see this band get more attention, I don’t think “Beyond Daylight” will make the following increase. This is a record for the fans, while others won’t get it or care for it. It takes a few spins in the player to sink it in, and it helps a lot to be an insider so to speak. The opener “Nightwalker” sets a high standard for the material, while my favorite song right now might be the beautiful “Scarlet Flower Fields”. That’s the thing with Vanden Plas; they make unique melodies with a strong trademark, and no band sounds like them, not even close. So I said this record was for the fans – but that doesn’t mean you can’t become one if you’re unfamiliar with Germany’s best progressive metal band. Check out “Beyond Daylight” for all good reasons.