Voyager is an Australian progressive metal band from Perth that formed in 1999 and have since released seven full-length albums. Their latest album is a re-release of their 2017 album Ghost Mile. Admittedly, this was not a band I was familiar with prior to this review. However, the band certainly caught my attention from the first listen as their sound drew similarities to prog contemporaries Caligula’s Horse.
The band’s sound is a wonderful blend of other genres at times as they make use of a variety of instruments, sounds and arrangements helping their sound be unique. The song What a Wonderful Day was a wonderful song that seemed to take elements of electronica and blend it with prog metal, doing so wonderfully. The band has a softer sound than some progressive bands as frontman Daniel Estrin keeps his vocals clean and clear, but his voice is rather infectious and adds a lot of character to the songs. His voice is able to inflect in ways that perfectly complement the instruments, in the song Misery is only company his voice shines especially on the chorus.
The guitars on the album provide a good backing to many of the tracks, at times being the standout and others taking more of a back seat. In songs such as Lifeline, the skill of Simone Dow and Chris Hanssen becomes obvious as the song has a catchy, groovy riff that will most likely get you tapping your foot to it. The guitars have some grit to them so in the songs they do add a nice contrast to some of the softer sounds to the keyboards and program sounds. Their ability to have the instruments work well together is one of the standout positives on this album, as they have an ability to blend many different sounds into cohesive and catchy songs.
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The keyboard enhances many of their songs and is the main instrument on the song This Gentle Earth it enhances the atmosphere present in the songs and makes for some almost melancholic tunes at times
This re-release adds three additional live tracks including Ghost Mile, The Meaning of I and Lost. These are nice additions to have especially the two tracks, not from this album, they sound almost exactly like studio recordings except with frontman Daniel talking occasionally.
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The live version of Lost adds in a fun live bit where the band play some trance for the audience that does add some more character to the recording. Overall, they do lack a bit of live atmosphere because of the studio sound so may not be worth a re-buy for those that own the album already but it’s a nice addition for those that haven’t.
This album is one another cracking one from an Australian Prog band as Voyager has created a varied, catchy, and interesting listen here. Standouts on the album for me are Misery is Only Company, What a Wonderful Day and This Gentle Earth. The album isn’t perfect with songs such as Disconnected and Ghost Mile feeling a little bland when compared to the other tracks, certainly still good tunes but not as interesting to listen to. I would recommend if you’re a fan of prog or even just some good catchy metal/rock.
Release Year: 2020
Label: Season of Mist
Category: Re-Issue Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Billy Poulopoulos
