Sanvoisen - Exotic Ways

Year of Release: 1994
Label: Noise Records
Catalog Number: #
Format: CD
Total Time: 00:00:00

It's amazing how discs seem to slip by unnoticed, which has its good points and bad points ..... On one hand, its great that there are so many discs out there that we can't keep up with all of them...... On the other hand, lots of discs get passed by for many reason, including availability, timing of release, and others ........ I personally am having a great time going back to my discs and "re-discovering" some of them that may have gotten lost in the shuffle, or grabbing onto discs that maybe didn't get a lot of buzz........ Sanvoisen is one of those bands ....... I have seen little buzz on this band, and from those that I have discussed this band with, didn't have much to rave about, and I cannot figure this out ........ I just got Exotic Ways in today, their first disc which I had on tape, and I had Soul Seasons for a bit ....... my many thanks to the person responsible for getting me these "special" discs, I thank you much, and you know who you are ..... :O)

So, another disc has found its way to my player, and I have a feeling that this one will take awhile to head back to the rack ....... the review below is of Exotic Ways, which is appealing to me moreso than Soul Seasons, which I haven't totally absorbed yet .......

THE STYLE:

Melodic metal with tinges of prog, and TONS of warmth ...... their use of acoustic guitars to accent the electric ones give it a dreamy, smoooth flowing feel ...... this disc wreaks of melodic warmth, and for those of you who have it, you know why this is blowing me away ........Its not overly proggy, but their structures seem to always reflect some progressive tendencies, and I don't want to give an impression of a straight ahead metal approach, because its not ...... every song is built around 2-3 different melody structures, which gives it that proggy style ...... but the emphasis here is on WARMTH and beauty ......... there are several tunes that kick in to speedy gear, and they are still done with warmth, if that makes sense.... they never manage to lose sight of their base sound....... It is very difficult to pinpoint this sound, because I hear a few a bands in every song ..... there are some Queensryche riffs, there are some Fates Warning styled riffs, and then other bands of the melodic warmth style ...... Of note, this is a twin guitar driven band, and the most amazing thing about them is that they manage to capture all of their warmth without the use of keyboards, and I guess the band that comet to mind that also creates warmth from this type of approach would be SIAM...... melodic using electric / acoustic guitars ......

THE PRODUCTION:

Excellent .... its playing at this moment, a ballad, and I hear the signature electric / acoustic guitar sounds surrounding each other, and I hear the bass VERY well which is rare ....... the drums stand out very well, not overbearing at all, and VERY clean sounding ........ this might not make sense, but for a melodic metal band, the drums almost seem to complement this sound due to the cleanliness of the sound ...... every singel instrument can be heard, nothing is put back in the mix, everything leaves the speakers at precisely the same time ...... intersting note, the vocals are SUPER clean, such that even though the singer (which is THE shining point for me) has that classy slight German accent that I love so much, its very easy to hear what he is singing ..........

THE SINGER

My pride and joy ...... if it isn't enough that this band is based on warmth and beautiful melodies, they throw in one hell of a singer ...... this guy is high-pitched, only naturally it seems..... I'll be that this guy sounds the same way when he talks........ and thats a compliment....... there should be more singers with high pitches that can control themselves and keep within the human range of hearing ....... this singer, Vagelis Maranis, seems to know this, and stays well within hearing limits, obviously able to reach much higher ........ I would have to put his voice as a cross between the following: first and foremost, Chadd Castor of The Quiet Room, Andre Matos of Angra and maybe Midnight at times ....... that said, you know what this guy is capable of .........

THE BAND:

That twin guitar attack gets me every time ...... just as The Quiet Room wreaks of power with their twin guitar attack, Sanvoisen wreaks of melodic warmth with theirs ...... this is NOT to say that either approach is better, I am comparing what I think the roles of the twins play .... and it appears that Sanvoisen comes from the school of warm blankets, because when they are not mixing it up with 2 electrics, they are mixing up the acoustic with the electric, just as Saim does ........ The drums and bass complement each other well, and again, they all seem to converge on warmth, and this attracts me the most .........

THE COMMENTS:

Speaking solely on Exotic Ways, I have to say that this one serious, warm disc ...... if you like it warm like I do, this is a must buy ..... one of those sleepers that got lost in the shuffle ...... as I said, its very to hard to pinpoint this particular sound, but it is safe to say that if you like Siam, or any bands that have goals of hitting that warm spot in your metal, then this is an excellent disc .... complete with power ballads, high power, awesome singer, and great melodies, this has got my attention totally....... I've had this on tape for months, and I just got around to getting it, but it stayed on my mind for months, and it sounds SO much better on disc, this is one for the melodic people ..... take note ........

I know this particular review will catch some flak from the Soul Seasons fans..... I do like SS, but its just a bit on the colder side for me, and I haven't fully absorbed it yet to comment ..... I will say that of the two, Soul Seasons is probably the heavier and proggier, but when melodic warmth comes calling at my door, I do NOT hesitate to answer ..... and Exotic Ways can visit my player any time it wants to ..........

Highly recommended ......

Tracklisting:
Colours Around / The Law / It's Over / Tears For No-one / Under Permission / The Blind / What I Mean / No Place For Me / Believe / Time Is Not / I'm Alive

Musicians:
Vagelis Maranis - vocals
Angel Sch?nbrunn: guitar
Hendrik B?ttcher - guitar
Horst-Christian Andree - bass
Ulf S. Gokeler - keyboards

Discography:
Soul Seasons (1997)
Exotic Ways

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin DE

Added: July 25th 1999
Reviewer: Larry "LarryD" Daglieri

Hits: 3480
Language: english