VAGH – Into The Future Zone

The second album from the Swedish band Vagh comes two years since their debut Sands Of Time. Into The Future Zone continues along the same path, and don’t be fooled by the title; Vagh is still a band that easily makes you remember the 80s.

They start off pretty rough, with “To Hell And Back Again,” and it makes you doubt that this is really a melodic rock band. But on “I Wanna Feel Love,” the pieces all fall together. All in all, it’s a loud band with edgy guitars handled by mainman Robin Vagh.

“Love Touch” is one of the album’s best moments. A catchy chorus, brilliant keyboards, and on top of this there are great vocals – both lead and backing. Alongside “Show Me Heaven Tonight” and “Invincible,” these three songs are worth checking out.

The rest of it? Well … the female vocals on “Moment Of A Touch” and “Don’t Turn Away” are the album’s weakest points. It sounds very amateur-like, a little bit out of tune at times, and with bad pronunciation (which occurs several times on the album). It sounds like Doro Pesch on a really, really bad day.

The production of the album is a bit poor overall. There’s probably not a big budget attached to this release, but the balance is a bit strange, with lack of a real bass/drum-boost, and way too loud vocals. It kinda ruins the total impression of Into The Future Zone. But alongside a bit too many poor songs and the aforementioned female singer, Vagh does not get any further on their way to the big one.