Review of At Vance - The Evil in You

It always feels good to hear some good "True" metal, I love Death/Black/Extreme metal in general, but I have a big soft spot for melodic, racing guitars, wacky soloing, and I completely dig when a band fuses some Classical influence in on guitars, and At Vance has all of these elements with their 5th album: "The Evil in You". This is most definitely a band that was found out in Japan even before Europe (how that happens I have yet to find out) and in America we are pretty much completely obscured from... honestly, how many big melodic metal bands can you name from America? Iced Earth, Kamelot, maybe Jag Panzer, Zandell... our "true metal" scene isn't very lush right now, but in Europe it is completely the opposite. I would call At Vance Neoclassic Heavy/Power Metal, they aren't the most complicated band playing within that spectrum, but their songs are very well constructed, catchy, their guitars have a great tone, and keep the pace of the music. This album, "The Evil in You" marks the debut of ex-Malmsteen & Krux vocalist Mats Leven in the band, great voice on this guy, actually- lately there have been quite a few line up changes in the band (it seems to happen to a ton of bands when they break the ice from obscurity) but it has not stopped the band from progressing in both talent, sound and overall quality of product. As far as name dropping references, I say this band would draw in fans of Helloween (keepers era), Malmsteen, Judas Priest, Pretty Maids & Stratovarius, their product comes across both as refreshing and fun, a great album to hum along with or air guitar to (I'm not the only person that tends to do that to a good Melodic Metal album right?) One of the best features of this album is that none of the tracks drag through, their all catchy and listenable, "The Evil in You" & "Fallen Angel" probably being my favorite ones. This is overall a great album, from a band that has received way too little attention, from what I can see this band puts out an album like... every year!, well, till 2004 then, quality & quantity combined is something I can definitely get used to! Recommended to all ye who like to sing along, throw their fists, and love their Metal "Metal as Fuck". This is Melodic Metal at its finest.

Release Details

At Vance

The Evil in You

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