When I hear Quo Vadis’ Defiant Imagination, I instantly think accessible death metal. This band isn’t about gore, National Socialism, Satanism, confrontation or tearing down values society generally holds dear (yet takes for granted). Rather, grab a copy of Defiant Imagination, feel the grooving rhythm and lush melodies mixed with themes of abandonment, confusion and empowerment. It is aggression, leaving out vulgarity. This album was winner of the Hail Metal top 35 albums of 2005 award for a good reason. It’s an enjoyable, fun album, giving pretty much everyone something to look forward to (except of course for your ‘elitist black metal nazi’ who only likes nomadic black metal from the pits of nothingness in northern Norway). There are particularly strong influences from the classic ‘Death’ (the Chuck Schuldiner band for those of you who have been living under a rock) early to mid 90’s era work. Speedy syncopated riffs with richly melodic endings combine with an undulating bass/drum foundation to give the album unbroken momentum. The riffing is powerful, melodic, grooving and they tend to upscale in a fret board-climbing manner. Every now and then, the bouncing riffing is cut off by a spurt of guitar heroics, which are generally well placed and not over done. I should probably point out at this stage, that a good thought to have in the back of your head would be something along the lines of Arsis’ A Celebration of Guilt – in particular the song ‘Maddening Disdain’. The basic song foundations and directions are very similar – producing very comparable musical styles. The most noticeable Death influences flow through the bass lines – which are tweaked to produce a contrasting, thick progressive sound. As strange as it may sound, if you listen to a few songs, you will hear it as well and think ‘hey, that’s not such a retarded description’. This technique / tuning gives the album a different touch and is very fitting in the context of the grooving riffs and often serve the purpose of giving the music a levelness about it – somewhat at the forefront of calming the other instruments down. The drums, as mentioned above, carry the albums momentum, providing the link between each riff and guiding the tempo. Whilst they are not ground breaking or gob-smackingly outstanding, they complement the music superbly, without being overly confrontational or too prominent in the context of the other instruments. Similarly [XXX’s] vocals are enjoyable and accompany the instruments nicely. The vocals are death-growls, with a wind tunnel-like gargle to them, although they are not particularly harsh. They closely follow the patterns of the riffs – and at points create their own rhythmic overlay, which is used particularly effectively in songs like Dead Man’s Diary. My only issues with this album stem from the fact that at points it does sound a little mallcore and jumpdafuckup’ish. Although they are not prominent enough to deter my enjoyment of the album, I guess they serve as a warning for the future Quo Vadis releases. The crux of this message being, don’t get carried away with the groove. Other than that, it is a very worthwhile release and as I mentioned in my mini review – worthy of our top album of 2004. Stand out tracks include: - Break the Cycle - Dead Man’s Diary - Silence Calls the Storm (look out for the huge growl at the start of this one) Overall I would recommend any fan of melodic death metal to get this album. I would hazard a guess at saying this would appeal most to those newest to the death metal scene and looking for a gateway to annihilation (haw haw haw). The band plays in a very tight manner – nothing sounds too cluttered; even with the occasional keyboard harmonies added which add a certain direction or intention to the album.