V is the fifth album from Australian progressive metallers Voyager and it certainly ticks all the right boxes for being an exceedingly strong release from the five-piece. Chock-full of catchy tracks and memorable melodic lines, it makes the best impression right from the get-go.
Opening track Hyperventilating gets the album off to the perfect start, with an absolute earworm of a synthesised opening and if that’s not enough for you, the massive-sounding chorus is a line that you just can’t help but sing along to – it’s one of those sections that seems destined to be stuck in your head for days, and it’s a good choice to get the album moving because of how striking it is.
V continues in much the same way following this, with highlights such as the hugely emotive Embrace The Limitless that features some stunning vocals and lush instrumentation throughout, and Peacekeeper is somewhat of a slow burner that takes more of a stripped-back route, but it really pays off and shows they have another string to their bow rather than just your standard rock song.
The latter half album rounds up with The Morning Light, which is a great rerecorded rendition of a song from their debut album, Summer Always Comes Again, which is a good vocal-driven track that helps to bring V towards a rather chilled-out close before finishing for good with Seasons Of Age, a track that brings together everything that made V an all-round stunning release.
Although this perhaps isn’t the ‘genre-defying’ album it’s been billed as, because there’s nothing on the album that hasn’t been done before by other bands, but nevertheless it’s still a great album that looks set to be played on repeat for a long time to come yet.
8/10
