Eighteen Visions - Vanity (2002)Release ID: 19464
The heavy greatness of Eighteen Visions was shining the most in the albums Until the Ink Runs Out and The Best of Eighteen Visions. Their debut Yesterday is Time Killed is heavy too, but dragged down by its poor production. However, Vanity is where things really start to change...
This Orange County band have a lot of the brutal chaos of metalcore in the riffs, screams, and breakdowns, to get the hardcore crowd moshing. While all that is still around, there are some interesting twists. The riffing is more melodic than before and clean singing has become more prominent. And those new aspects happen every 30 seconds or so. It's not as awesome as the previous two albums, yet greatly unique. Guitarist Brandan Schieppati left the band after this and is fully committed to Bleeding Through.
The great title opener pretty much lets you know all that's going on in the album. The metallic riffing drives through as James Hart performs not just screaming but also singing. Despite opening a new dimension in the band's sound, the latter vocal style is not as strong as the former. Neither are the lyrics. That's OK because the heavier sections like the great breakdown makes that track the powerful standout it is. "Fashion Show" has lyrics detailing a break-up and shows some resilience instead of just going all-out emo. "She thought that she could break my heart, I'm not the one that's been held down, because you're the one that's letting me go." Great drumming and riffing, and don't forget another killer breakdown! "One Hell of a Prize Fighter" is one h*ll of a brutal track. It's quite battle-ready, as you can hear from the lyrics of a fight. "Well, here's your misery, bite down and grind your teeth away." The backing growls are performed by Howard Jones, shortly before he joined Killswitch Engage. After all that heaviness is some of the best clean singing here. For "I Don't Mind", I DO mind the Godsmack-like clean verses and lyrics The breakdown really makes up for that though.
"The Notes of My Reflection" is an acoustic instrumental with a drum loop before seguing into the next track. "A Short Walk Down a Long Hallway" is the best track here for me. The singing, soloing, riffing, and lyrics all reach their very peak. "Disgust, disgrace, you'll slap that look right off of my face, I'll play God, I'll play dead, You'll be the one to shoot me in the head." I also love the screaming by Corey Darst from The Pretty Weapons who was a live vocalist for Zao at the time. "The Critic" is the heaviest of the bunch. There's more of the crushing guitar and lyrics criticizing critics. "Cuz what you see is what you think is loud, so start eating the sh*t we're gonna feed you now." And we have another great breakdown too. "Gorgeous" is not gorgeous at all. It's a f***ing cheesy love ballad, and I hate the lyrics and singing there. "You Broke Like Glass" has lyrics tackling the straight edge scene, which doesn't make sense when there's the g****mn Godsmack-like singing and riffing.
"In the Closet" has some great riffing. The lyrics of religion are the absolute best on the album. "God gave you wings to fly, so fly the f*** away." And here's yet another sick breakdown. I still can't believe that is as short as that d*mn "Gorgeous" ballad. "Sonic Death Monkey" lyrically takes on the sins of porn. Some more of the best riffing and drumming comes in. The soft singing section drifts smoothly into a hard screaming breakdown. Another interlude, "There is Always" is just the Manchurian Candidate theme song sampled in its original form. They didn't even credit the composer David Amram! I'm surprised they got away with that. "Love in Autumn" is just a clean rock ballad with solely clean singing, then the electric guitar comes in for the solo. Good, but not how I wanna end things. Neither is the subsequent 7-minute silence and hidden phone call.
Before I conclude this review, I actually wanna talk about something I didn't know until around the time I started my Eighteen Visions reviewing marathon. Two years before this review, the band re-recorded Vanity for its 20th anniversary. Apparently it's much heavier, with the tuning lowered from drop B to drop A, and the ballads weren't included (thank goodness!). I should check it out sometime. They also re-recorded Obsession recently for its 20th anniversary. Will they re-record their 6th self-titled album in 2026? I both hope so and hope not! Either way, Vanity is certainly not Obsession. This is the usual heavy metalcore of 18V with nice touches of melody. Sweet and enjoyable....
Favorites: "Vanity", "One Hell of a Prize Fighter", "A Short Walk Down a Long Hallway", "The Critic", "In the Closet", "Sonic Death Monkey"
