Of not too many bands can it be said their sound is one of ‘epic electro progressive power pop metal,’ but such is the claim made about Australian band Voyager. The band blends together a contemporary feel for the electro sound prevalent in the early eighties with touches of melodic rock and occasionally pop, but all performed with a considerable degree of condensed power. They can more than hold their own when it comes to power playing, and their overall style means Voyager remain resolutely, almost defiantly, uncategorizable. Imagine someone like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark melding with Devin Townsend, with the occasional touch of classic rock, and you’d probably be close.
Colours in the Sun is the band’s seventh studio album and it’s their strongest to date. The current line-up has now been together close to a decade and it shows in the tightness of their playing. The track ‘Colours’ opens up and it sets the mood for the entire album. It’s a powerful opener with its electro OMD-style intro and a driving riff fuelling the tune. ‘Severomance’ then comes in hard and punchy after a quiet start, and ‘Brightstar’ is as close as the band comes to being commercial. ‘Saccharine Dream’ features a guitar break, one of the very few on the album, and ‘Reconnected’, with its unrelenting pace and aggressive riffing, is almost thrash metal in tone, and it’s easy to imagine tracks like this being a powerhouse onstage, with its blending of Prog metal with 80’s pop. There’s no gratuitous noodling either. Every song is compact and makes its point. This is an album which will hopefully go some way to widening the bands fanbase in the UK.
But the one thing which doesn’t come across on the album is just how much fun the band have when they perform onstage. To fully appreciate Voyager, you’d need to see one of their gigs, and watch charismatic frontman Danny Estrin prowling the stage with his Keytar, and hear Simone Dow driving the band along with some pulsating guitar work. They clearly enjoy what they do and it shows.
