Best Of Eighteen Visions, The

Given Eighteen Visions' rather brief discography, you can't help but wonder a bit about the existence of a best-of collection. Still, either way, it's a fine album, filled to the brim with incredibly intense and anger-charged heavy metal. In fact, calling Eighteen Visions heavy metal is probably a misnomer since the group isn't your typical heavy metal band. Even a quick listen unveils their hardcore influence, but don't call them a punk band either since their songs are rather developed and their music a bit plodding. It's ultimately vocalist James Da Barba that weighs things down a bit here; he employs a sort of Henry Rollins-meets-Jonathan Davis approach that nearly rivals the anguishing growls of a death metal vocals. Overall, a great place to begin if you're unfamiliar with Eighteen Visions, though don't come here thinking that this is some decade-spanning anthology -- Best of Eighteen Visions plays more like a standard LP and is best approached as such. ~ Jason Birchmeier|