VANISH is a progressive metal band from Stuttgart, Germany who over the past 14 years have played countless shows and festivals, including spots sharing the stage which bands like AXXIS, FREEDOM CALL and QUEESNRYCH. The band has just released a brand new fantastic album entitled "Come To Wither", which elegantly shows off their musical ability with majesty and power.

This release opens up with the title track of the album, which starts with some calming, therapeutic piano leading to some quiet and slightly distorted vocals, to then lead into a build-up using more piano, a bit of synth, and the voice of what seems to be a radio news reporter talking about the coming end of the world, that's what it sounds like from what I can gather from the reporter anyway. This track does its job very well in its aim to build suspense, and leads into to the first full length track very well, putting me in the right mood to experience great things from VANISH in the coming songs.

"Great Collapse" starts off with heavy held chords from the guitars and keys, I can already hear that the production and mastering on this album is top quality, the first 5 seconds alone gave me chills and a smirk on my face, knowing that I'm about to witness an album full of a lot of potential. This is the perfect song to open the album; it's not too long, not too complicated, but at the same time, has great riffs, great vocal lines and a nice catchy chorus, it sets the tone and the mood of the album nicely which makes you want to listen on to whatever else these guys have to offer. Within this first track, I also became very fond of and very impressed by the musicianship involved; every member in this band seems to be very experienced and talented in their craft. Bastian Rose reminds me very much of Russell Allen of SYMPHONY X, and the lead guitar tone and style very much reminds me of John Petrucci of DREAM THEATER, who is actually one of my personal favourite guitar players, so no faults there! "Bless the Buried Child" is next and is full of pace and great riffs and is the shortest track on the album (apart from the title track). This one has a fairly simple structure to it but is full of great moments making it one of the highlights on the album. "Renewal" is one of theslower paced songs on the album and also one of the most atmospheric, especially in the verses. It's definitely not one of the best tracks on the album, but it's still pretty damn good! I don't think there is one song on this album that I could say is bad, or even just okay, every song on this album is well written, well recorded and simply brilliant.

"This Is How We Die" is another riff heavy mid tempo aggressive track, opening up with some synth to get the hairs standing up on your neck before bursting into more ridiculously heavy riffing which makes you bang your head without even thinking about it. Next up is the epic of the album, "Curtain Call", closing in at just over 9 minutes long. This track opens up with a soft solo vocal performance which is pretty hypnotic; it drags you in straight away, pulling you away from reality and turning all of your attention and focus on Bastian's soul chilling voice, to ensure that when the full band comes in once again, it blows you away! This is probably the most diverse and one of the best songs on the record, using multiple areas in the track for progressive instrumentation, tempo changes and rhythm changes. The musicianship and composition skills of this band are truly great and admirable.

"Silence" is another evil and moody mid-tempo track, with some of the darkest guitar riffs and vocal melodies on the record, and also one of the songs where Bastian's voice shines the most, this man has a spectacular range! I also got a DREAM THEATER vibe coming from the synth towards the end of this song, very reminiscent of Jordan Rudess' style, which isn't a bad thing mind you! "Hollow" is next and is possibly the most mellow song of all the others, to be honest, this was the one song where I found myself getting slightly bored... Until I got to the beautiful guitar solo later on, that picked things back up ready for the final chorus which got me back into the swing of things and grooving along to it again.

"Hope Shall Rise" then starts with some weird phasered synth stuff going on before some proggy riffs and rhythms which sound brilliant, this song is another high point on the album; Its full of great guitar melodies and the chorus is great, almost power metal! And everyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for power metal and cheesy metal choruses so again, no faults there! "Reboot" is next and has the focus pointed more towards the piano at first, and actually slightly reminds me of EPICA throughout most of the song (without the female vocals obviously) until the latter end of the song where things start to get dark and heavy again with moody and atmospheric riffs, and then some trade-off guitar and keyboard solos. This is again one of the greater songs on this album.

"Come to Wither" then comes to a close with the final and second longest track "The Grand Design", spanning at just over 7 minutes. This one starts with more quiet vocals and piano, before bursting into a fast and catchy riff very similar to JUDAS PRIEST or IRON MAIDEN.  This is another widely diverse track full of musical changes sure to make any lover of prog fall instantly in love with the music. This song also features a guest vocal performance from Ralf Scheepers of the Heavy Metal band PRIMAL FEAR, being a fan of Scheepers and PRIMAL FEAR It was a great surprise to hear his voice on this!

I highly recommend that you check VANISH out and buy this album, This is a very solid release that is not wise to let pass by!