VISITANT "The Sword Without Eyes" (Celestial Frequency)
It took BARELY 13 years to see the follow-up from VISITANT after their split-tape with TASYIM came out in 1999. And right until the unleashing of "The Sword...", VISITANT for me harbours the words aggressive, fast, epic, with a certain rawness in it. Fast forward a decade plus 3 more years, what can you make of VISITANT then? If you put the materials on the split-tape and this MCD side by side, then among the initial findings would be in terms of the productions of course. That split-tape is almost a rehearsal recording left untouched to preserve its primeval nature. Here in "The Sword..." is what would probably be one of the better production job for a local release indeed. Perhaps that long hiatus has its own blessing indeed. "The Sword Without Eyes" is the opening track too, and when it starts there's this instant VISITANT vibe injected, you know it if you've heard them before. As the proceeding gets going, by then you'll notice what is VISITANT, and what was VISITANT. The band incorporates a lot more of that 'epicness' nowadays, made possible mostly due to the fact that synths are an integral part of their compositions from this point on, and surely the possibilities of the productions itself. The aggresiveness is still there, yet it is to my surprise that I could even say this MCD might appeals to the current listeners of pagan, heathen Metal wave/front/whatever. I'm missing that certain 'rawness', but they, as do you and me, aged, so that might be the reasoning. The 'new' VISITANT emerges gradually right until the last song. Hell, "Tales of the Past II" might even be a favourite campsitesittingbythefire hit, and in no means I'm joking here. VISITANT nowadays will surely garner a wider listener base, only those hopeless narrow-minded romantics like me (you?) will reminisce, at least a bit; at their raw youthful exuberations back then. Future release(s) demanded, at the meantime you'll find not much of an excuse to skip this one out, a very solid and convincing output.
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