The Vision Bleak
Weird Tales
Black Vinyl. 2024.

„An Opus of Darkness and Grandeur“

Eight years after the album “The Unkown" Weird Tales was released in April 2024. Based on the horror stories of Weird Tales magazine, "Konstanz" and "Schwadorf" created an opus that wants to be heard in its entirety. There's something romantic about listening to an entire album. Despite all the darkness, I always find The Vision Bleak romantic and in my opinion only Gothic/Dark/Doom bands manage to create exactly that kind of mood. If the parcel delivery person rings the bell while you're listening and you ignore it, then you know that this album is really good!

So now a one-track album in honor of Weird Magazine, in which H. P. Lovecraft, among others, published many of his morbid short stories. The Vision Bleak (TVB) succeeds in creating atmospheric music from Black/Doom/Death Metal and Gothic, which draws inspiration from horror literature and films. It goes through stories from Weird Magazine in 13 chapters. Although I can't find any longueurs or weaknesses in the individual chapters, I particularly liked three of them. Chapter IV "Once I was a Flower" with a quiet piano intro. Gothic rock at its best. The best contrast is Chapter V with a hard voice, fat riffs and drums, followed by "The Premature Burial". The first time I heard it, I was shocked by the sudden onset of hard singing. Garnished with spoken word. Both chapters are simply brilliantly done. Chapters VII and VIII, "The Graveyard by Night in a Thunderstorm" and "The Undying One" unfold their strengths together. And that is exactly the strength of this album, songs that work on their own, such as Chapter IX and X, "Evil Dreams run Deep" and "The Witch with Eyes of Amber" or understanding everything as one song. Does Weird Tales touch me? Not in that sense. The coherent overall concept appeals to me. Sounds like a conclusion.

I have a soft spot for concept and one-track albums. And TVB delivers a well-thought-out concept here. Not just song by song written and arranged, everything flows into one another. Speech and clean vocals, sometimes calm, sometimes guttural and sometimes slightly growly. From delicate piano tones to hard riffs. Everything that creates a mood. That's why Weird Tales is a highlight of 2024 for me. The black vinyl record sits well on the surface and sounds good. That's important in the quiet passages of the music. I love the sound of vinyl and it's perfect here.

The Vision Bleak are:

Schwadorf: All Guitars, harsh Vocals, Bass and Keyboards
Konstanz: Drums and Vocals

With Aline Deinert: Violin, Viola for Weird Tales.

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.