Modus Vivendi ‘The Power of Suggestion’
Reviewed June 2001 by www.metal.de

(English Translation)

It’s been a long time waiting for Perth’s premier progressive metal band MODUS VIVENDI to release something on CD. The anticipation has been however, paid off, because what the five-piece deliver on "The power of suggestion" can easily compete with the greats of the prog metal world today. Recorded entirely on an 8 track and brilliantly mastered at Sovereign studios, the CD contains three songs of high class semi-technical progressive metal. Modus Vivendi approach their songwriting with a mature structuring-process, keeping the listener entertained at all times.

 

The opener "Shadows Divine" starts off with a genre-typical odd time progression before kicking in to extremely melodic yet heavy riffing. The interplay between chunky guitars, totally in sync with the bass, and ambient keyboards provides a solid basis for the refined melodies. At times very reminiscent of Pain of Salvation, Modus Vivendi emphasise precision work a la Dream Theater, yet maintain a flowing melody structure comparable to the likes of Shadow Gallery (see the second song Misinformation). The final song line integrity features some fantastic interplay between all instruments, the slightly electronic keyboard sound adding to the already original sound.

The musicianship is also outstanding, each and every one of the guys handling their instrument with extremely high skill and excellence. Remarkable is also drummer Duane, whose role as a simultaneous lead vocalist is not only admirable on the CD but is also performed to perfection live. Only criticism is the rhythm guitar sound, which could have been somewhat crunchier. This however does not detract from the overall nature of the CD, which, all in all, is an outstanding piece of music and will no doubt reach the heights of prog metal in no time. The Modus Vivendi experience has begun…