Quick Reviews: Coreleoni, Skills, & Visions Of Atlantis

Today, let's take a look at three new albums I have something to say about, but not enough for a full-length review.

Coreleoni - III

These sorts of things confuse me. Coreleoni was formed to play covers of Gotthard songs, but now they're playing their own original music. That means their third album isn't really their third album, since the first two were mostly old stuff they were recycling. That's not quite as confusing as when Fozzy switched from being a covers band to an original one, but it's still odd branding. Not that anyone knows who Coreleoni are, but if you happen to have heard the name before, you would be led to thinking this is another album of retreads. But I'm not a marketing genius, so maybe there's something in this I'm missing.

As for the music, there isn't a lot to say. These may be original songs, but they sound like covers. Everything about the album sounds like it was ripped from the past. The songwriting has all the hallmarks of the 80s, especially in the way many of the vocal lines don't even bother trying to be a melodic chorus. It was the way songs were written when rock was in its youth, and I hated it then. I still hate it now.

"Greetings From Russia" is one of the most ill-timed songs of the year. Maybe that lack of insight is illustrative of the entire album, which throws yet another band on the endless roster of them who are retreading the past without adding anything at all new to the mix. These sorts of records are made for die-hard fans of the past, but as we know, those are the very people who don't listen to new music anymore. So who is this for? That's a good question, and after listening to this record, I can't answer it.

Skills - Different Worlds

Yet another 'supergroup', Skills can't live up to that billing, because the most identifiable part of their sound is a relative unknown. Billy Sheehan and Brad Gillis are 'names', even if they haven't been part of many conversations since the late 80s, but it's singer Renan Zonta who makes this group sound like any of the other anonymous new bands, rather than something led by veteran talent. Since Sheehan is in this band, we can draw a comparison to The Winery Dogs, who burst out of the gate with some real fanfare. It's not hard to see why that band was an immediate success, while this one will only be making a second album to prove the first one wasn't a failure.

The Winery Dogs had charisma, and sounded like a band having a ton of fun throwing down some rock songs to distract themselves from their main gigs. Skills doesn't have either of those things. Zonta is a fine singer, but he doesn't have the same level of charisma in his voice, and the songs are played so well they sound more robotic than passionate. It's not bad, by any means, but it doesn't have the spark to make me believe in what they're doing. It sounds too much like musicians going through the motions.

Visions Of Atlantis - Pirates

I don't know why so many romanticize pirates. That life was brutally hard, listing on the choppy ocean under a pounding sun, hoping not to be killed when stealing from another ship. And that was assuming you didn't get scurvy and lose a leg, an eye, or both. Pirate life sucked, and it doesn't have any connection to symphonic metal, so I'm rather puzzled Visions Of Atlantis chose to plaster that imagery on their new album.

"We embrace who we are and we can state it in the eyes of everyone that we are Pirates now", is what the band says. Um... I know they're probably trying to say they are completely untethered to expectations, and are 'doing their own thing', but comparing yourself to murderous thieves isn't going to win many people over to your personalities. I don't want to draw any conclusions about them as people, but their choices are pointing me in the wrong direction.

As for the album, it's solid stuff. It sounds grand and epic, with the symphonic bits adding scope to the metal skeletons, and giving more context for Clementine's semi-classical vocals. Songs like "Melancholy Angel" and "Clocks" have big, rousing choruses that will be sure to please. I don't think the album keeps the momentum up all the way through, but the highlights are certainly worth hearing. If it wasn't for the unfortunate focus on pirates, this would be a charming record.