VOYAGER

Once again, the fantastically multi-talented band from Perth, Australia stuns us with their well-crafted and surprisingly heart-warming album I AM THE REVOLUTION. If you?ve never heard of Voyager before, now is the time to rectify that.

With two genre-defying albums under their belt already, 2003?s ELEMENT V and 2007?s UNIVERS, it might be harsh on the band to characterise 2009 as their breakthrough year, and I AM THE REVOLUTION as their breakthrough album. After all, the band enjoys a strong cult following both in their native Australia and in Europe, and they have opened for some major bands including Steve Vai and Queensryche, and were to have played at Progpower UK 2008 before it was cancelled. But what I mean to say is that their 2009 offering is slightly more metal-oriented than its predecessors, and this could be the album that makes metalheads sit up and take notice. Prog fans will no longer hog this gem of a band all to themselves.

ELEMENT V had a space-rock vibe and 80s Europop feel that made it special and carved out Voyager?s niche in their listeners? consciousnesses. It was light yet melancholy, having an air of whimsy about it. Imagine A-HA going all Dream Theater but recruiting Depeche Mode as creative contributors. UNIVERS was slightly more ponderous, slightly heavier, less playful ? Symphony X, Amorphis and In Flames have joined the party and Depeche Mode has just upped the ante, telling A-HA to stuff the keyboards and get down to serious stuff.

I AM THE REVOLUTION (the album is available for download for about AUD $12/US$10/?7 on the Voyager website) throws the Voyager fan a curveball right on the first track, sounding like a typical Euro-power metal band on ?Land of the Lies?, especially with hints of Rhapsody, Firewind and more than its fair share of Blind Guardian and Hansi Kursch. Thankfully, the second track takes on the typical Voyager flair, but there?s already a noticeable change in the band?s sound. It?s not just the increase in metal elements, although that?s quite a significant progression ? taking on board a lot more Symphony X and other progressive power metal bands. But it?s the whimsical elements, the electronica, the keyboards and synth are a lot more pronounced as well. It?s less subtle than previous offerings, more up front, and markedly ?darker? as well.

Overall it is a solid album bordering on the very good. Once more, Daniel Estrin (bass, vocals) shows that he has not lost the ear for a good melody or progression, and his soulful, melancholy voice is as haunting and evocative as ever. One thing I do miss is the lack of death growls that used to pepper the previous albums quite liberally, but seem to have gone missing on this album. The rest of the band give him Daniel the unshakeable base on which he can indulge the voices in his head. Simone Dow and new guitarist Chris Hanssen leave the flashiness to other guitarists. Alex Canion?s bass can be heard through the mix, showing us some nice chops, and Mark Boeijen keeps things ticking over nicely with understated but powerful drumming.

Voyager fans will not be disappointed, this much I promise ? and I do hope that the metal world starts to take notice of this unique band. Fans of Symphony X and are open-minded enough to accept Europop and synth in their music will thoroughly enjoy this album. - Metal Rules

Uniqueness is a valuable commodity in the realm of Heavy Metal. The contemporary scene is flooded with scores of new bands without a single shred of originality, seemingly content to employ the same riffs, song structures, and vocal stylings of countless better known bands who have come before them. Progressive Metal is supposed to be a genre that bucks this monotonous trend to push heavy music in new directions. Sadly however, this is often not the case, as even Prog has fallen prey to the trappings of convention. I can’t even begin to count the Dream Theater clones, Fates Warning wannabes, and Pain Of Salvation knock-offs that exist today, some of course more apt than others, but all without their own sense of compelling ingenuity. Enter Australia’s Voyager, a band that epitomizes the intent and meaning of the word “progressive”. So far removed is this group of ladies, Simone Dow - guitar, and Melissa Fiocco - bass (since replaced by Alex Canio) and gentlemen, Daniel Estrin - vocals/keyboards, Mark DeVattimo - guitar, and Mark Boeijen - drums, that even applying the label “Progressive Metal” to their brand of heavy rings a little hollow. Voyager is beyond progression, they are a journey unto themselves.

The band’s distinctiveness may be a function of geography. Although rising in status in recent years with stellar acts like Vanishing Point, Lord, and Virgin Black calling the land of Oz home, based on its isolation from the lager scenes in Europe and America, Australia is not known as one of Metal’s most prolific producers. But this very geography also represents a puzzle with respect to the Voyager soundscape, as the music found on the band’s latest offering, uniVerse, is more evocative of the rich romanticism of Northern Europe’s thick boreal forests, than the barren desolation echoed in the sun-cracked red earth of the outback. The key to this equation is to be found in the recognition that Australia is a multicultural society, comprised of migrants from all over the globe. The Estrin family is no exception, and Daniel wears the enigmatic mysticism of his Russian ancestry on his sleeve, incorporating Muscovite poetry into his vivid and mellifluous performance.

Blending melodic hard rock rhythms with folk-textured sentimentalism, and periodic outbursts of grinding Black Metal blasts and that segue into cadences of classical bravado, uniVers is simply impossible to pin down. The eclectic mix of styles sounds utterly bizarre on paper, and if Voyager were any lesser of a band the result would certainly be a catastrophe. Remarkably though, Voyager pulls this idiosyncratic fusion off with a finesse and sense of grace that puts many of today’s leading Metal acts to shame. The band makes it seem so entirely effortless, you would swear that they had conjured Mozart’s ghost, extracted David Gilmour’s essence, communed with an ancient pagan rite, and through some form of inexplicable sorcery, managed to merge these sundry constituents in a witch’s cauldron, as the end result is a spellbinding concoction of breathtaking inspiration. Profound, engrossing, and wholly rewarding, uniVerse is an odyssey into the uncharted waters of visionary innovation, placing Voyager in a league all their own.

- Treehouse of Death - 10/10

http://www.voyager-australia.com/Mindview_Nov_2007_No_143.pdf - Mindview Magazine Belgium

Voyager provided one of the most entertaining sets that I and most of the crowd had seen .... - PYRO MUSIC AUSTRALIA

"Voyager have created an impressive new sound" - ROCK HARD MAGAZINE

Good prog/power bands are still pretty rare these days, and I can see Voyager making huge inroads into the genre if they can manage to get signed and release a stunning follow-up, as they have the potential to be the best metal band out there. I don't say things like that lightly, but this band is extremely original, bordering on unclassifiable at times, and they can fuse genres and ideas which normally should never come near each other together and create something both original and stunning. Until we manage to see a follow-up, Element V is a very good disc and a solid debut. Highly recommended.

- METAL CRYPT

I am the ReVolution is an almost perfect record of modern progressive melodic metal, pushing the boundaries of what truly defines the metal band by being completely unafraid of experimenting with totally different styles of music and making them all work together so well it just seems too easy. - Pyro Music