Review by Dom Vigil
When a record starts off with an intro as epic as the one on Victory Heights’ new album In Motion, I’m usually a mixture of both excited and nervous. Excited, because if a band can pack that much energy into the first track, I’m anxious to see what else it is that they can do, but nervous because when an album starts off so strong, it needs to be able to keep that same vibe throughout the rest of the record or risk losing the listener’s attention. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen with In Motion – the album both starts and ends on a very high note – and by the time the second song on the album begins, I’m excited to hear more.
The vocals, both the screams and cleans, on In Motion are definitely one of the album’s best qualities. While at some points in this album, the lead guitar work and bass seem to be a bit overpowered by the drums and rhythm guitar, the vocals still shine, making up for any of the record’s shortcomings. That being said though, the guitar parts that aren’t overpowered by the drums do shine in other tracks on the album such as “For The Birds” and my personal favorite, “Miles Away.” If there is a definitive high point on In Motion, it is found in the powerful ninth track in this album, “Miles Away.” The clean melodies in this track as well as the unclean vocals and the guitar parts just come together perfectly, creating a song that fans will easily find themselves humming after listening to this album all of the way through.
While Victory Heights stick with their metalcore roots in the heavy breakdowns and screaming throughout the majority of this album, they also deviate from it a little bit, too. I was surprised, yet pleased, to find an acoustic version of the otherwise hard-hitting track “Revolution” at the end of In Motion. Victory Heights really prove their versatility with this track, especially in their gorgeous vocal harmonies and melodies. I actually had to go back and listen to the original version of “Revolution” after hearing to the acoustic track because the two sound so different, but definitely not in a bad way. It really does take quite a bit of talent and songwriting ability to be able to take a metalcore song like “Revolution” and turn it into an acoustic ballad. With such a versatile album such as In Motion, Denver act Victory Heights easily prove that they’re more than ready to make a name for themselves in the metalcore scene, and with good reason – they’re definitely a band to keep an eye on this year.
Rating: 4/5
Listen to “Miles Away”