What is it about concept albums that makes Olaf Thörsen rise above his already lofty standards? ‘Stream of Consciousness‘ (2004) is arguably the best album he ever was a part of, its follow-up ‘The 25th Hour’ (2007) is one of the better Vision Divine albums, and ‘Blood and Angels’ Tears’ easily surpasses everything the band did since the former. It strikes a perfect balance between Vision Divine’s hypermelodic power metal sound and their adventurous progressive metal songwriting. As the first part of a diptych, it also avoids the pitfall of many power/prog concept albums by being pretty much exactly as long as it should be.

Maybe it is because of the storyline that runs through the album, but ‘Blood and Angels’ Tears’ feels a bit more metal than its direct predecessor ‘When All the Heroes Are Dead‘. The stylistic differences are subtle, but the AOR leanings that occasionally popped up are largely absent from ‘Blood and Angels’ Tears’. Fortunately, that did not go at the expense of the space for Ivan Giannini’s incredible voice. There are a few guest singers on the album – most notably Fates Warning’s Ray Alder – but even so, the most impressive voice on the album is without a doubt Giannini’s.

Another thing Thörsen and his writing partners Giannini and keyboard player Alessio Lucatti deserve a lot of praise for is making sure that every song can stand on its own without the conceptual environment of the album. Each song consists of memorable moments. Album highlight ‘Once Invincible’ is the prime example of this, with its intense riffing and supremely catchy chorus. On the other hand, more than a few songs are surprisingly adventurous by Italian power metal standards. Though to be fair, that combination of melodic memorability and semi-progressive songwriting has been Thörsen’s thing ever since the early days of Labÿrinth.

Even the calmer moments on the album are far above average. This is one aspect where Southern European bands often fail, but with a voice as powerful as Giannini’s and a power ballad as expertly written as ‘When Darkness Comes’, Vision Divine shows their peers how it’s done. The proggy middle section only enhances it. ‘Preys’ probably has my favorite riff on the album, and the whole song is impeccably arranged. But really, the whole album is likely to please the power metal crowd (‘The Broken Past’, ‘The Ballet of Blood and Angels’ Tears’) as well as the more melodic prog-inclined listeners (‘Go East’, ‘Dice and Dancers’).

‘Blood and Angels’ Tears’ is truly a spectactular album that makes full use of Vision Divine’s potential. There are stellar vocals, excellent solos by Thörsen and Lucatti as well as guitarist Frederico Puleri, and fantastic arrangements. But all of that would have been meaningless if the songwriting wasn’t this good. On concept albums, the compositions often suffer from needing to adhere to a storyline, but as songwriters, the guys in Vision Divine are simply too smart for that. The result is one of the greatest progressive power metal albums in the last few years.

Recommended tracks: ‘Once Invincible’, ‘The Ballet of Blood and Angels’ Tears’, ‘When Darkness Comes’, ‘Preys’