The Vision Bleak – Weird Tales (2024)

Do you want to hear a fairytale? Not with the recent, romantic meaning, but with the creepy atmosphere of The Grimm Brothers. If you are not afraid of the dark, the new horror story of The Vision Bleak is the perfect gate out of reality, to a world of gruesome poetry.

The gothic metal duo is back, this time with just one huge, 40 minute song, that is divided into twelve parts. Each part may be a different track, but they are recorded in such a way that you go seamlessly from one to the next and if you do not watch your screen/player, you may never understand the transition. This is enhanced by the fact that you do not have your typical song structure with verses and choruses, perhaps with the exception of the song Evil Dreams Run Deep. 

All parts share some common elements, but there is enough differentiation born from either the music side, or the vocal one. The overall atmosphere is dark for the whole duration, something that is greatly enhanced from the keyboards that always produce an eerie background. Guitars alternate between acoustic, slow doomy parts, black metal passages, or even neck bending heavy metal riffs. The same restlessness is met on the drums, as you can go from mid paced technical playing to faster beats within seconds, or even to a complete absence of them. 

Vocals could not stay idle, as there is a combination of clean and brutal parts, with the scales turning more towards the first in terms of duration. The clean ones come closer to Moonspell’s Fernando Ribeiro at times, but the true marvel is when they approach the male vocal style of Therion’s Theli album! 

Weird Tales also has an ace in its sleeve, something that may pass unnoticed if not given any attention and I am talking about the lyrics. They are very artistic and poetic to the point they achieve perfection. They feed your imagination with images and stories, while having an equal strength to their musical counterpart, you can just isolate and read them, something that is very rare to come across. I will even announce a personal favorite, as the lyrics of Once I Was a Flower tell an enthralling story in a beautiful, yet twisted way. 

That is the music of The Vision Bleak. It is gothic with all the meaning of the word, not a Trojan Horse for joyful and happy melodies to hide. If you find beauty in darkness, prepare to get completely lost in this album. This whole build up may come at the expense of heaviness at times, but there are many Metal moments as well. The beginning gives you the impression that melodies will prevail over power, but in act V the band’s true intentions begin to show. Summing, it is a work that must be heard/read from start to finish and without distractions at least once, so that you will experience its true potential. It is a pity to let it go unnoticed as a victim of a superficial 3 minute Youtube check. 

90/100

Pavlos Pavlakis

On behalf of Metal Domain