Symphonic metal Fans might be glad with Trinity, the latest Vision of Atlantis album. This is the band’s fourth cd. In fall 2005 Melissa Ferlaak joined the band. You might think that this would make Trinity sound very much like the famous Finnish band. Well, this is partly true because of Melissa’s vocals. The difference however is that the vocals on Trinity are mostly done by Mario Plank. Because of his metal voice, with Vision of Atlantis the emphasis lies rather on metal music than on symphonic metal.

The breaks in the songs are filled with symphonic elements that make the songs sound quite heavy, especially because of the contradiction between the quiet parts and the heavy ones. This could have resulted in great songs, but unfortunately the mix of the music is not quite optimal. Trinity is mixed almost too perfect, which makes the songs sound extremely polished, especially on the first part of the album. The vocals are recorded a little louder than the instruments, therefore the metal riffs and solo’s are somewhat less audible; this makes the songs sound less heavy.

If the mix had been a little rougher, the contradiction between the classical influences (voices and keyboards) and the heavy riffs would have strengthened both elements and the songs would have been more powerful. On the second part of the album the songs are mixed somewhat heavier, therefore the songs sound better.

‘Passing Dead End’ and ‘Through my Eyes’ are typical Night Wish songs. Other songs are up tempo (‘At the Back Beyond’ and ‘Wing-shaped hearts’) or low tempo like ‘Poem’ (power ballad), ‘Return to You’ (ballad with only the vocals of Melissa and keyboards) and ‘Seven Seas’ (typical music line of a Night Wish power ballad). My favourite song is ‘Flow this Desert’, a mix between power metal and symphonic metal.

I think some songs sound too much like Night Wish. On several songs the melody lines and song structure seem to be copied. Trinity is definitely not a bad album, but I think that Vision Of Atlantis has more capacities than just copying Night Wish.