Review by Billy Geary

Progressive rock in its classic sense is, sadly, a mere afterthought in Australian music. Though, who can blame the general public when the quality of the ‘newer’ style of prog rock in Australia is of such a high quality (think Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus’ latest records). However, Perth natives Voyager are about to change all of that. Being most accurately described as a combination of Dream Theater and Opeth’s more mellow moments, it’s completely and utterly refreshing to hear an Aussie band go back to the roots of progressive rock.

The Meaning of I is the quintet’s fourth album and it certainly packs a decent amount of punch. Guitar and keyboard solos are to be found all throughout the album. To some, this news will be a turn off and yes, there is a degree of cheesiness to some portions of the record, but for the most part The Meaning of I, is an excellent slab of progressively oriented rock. In fact, Voyager are quite keyboard driven as a whole which only serves to further separate them from much of the drab prog bands currently doing the rounds.

If there was one flaw to be found on The Meaning of I, it would be that the tracks generally fall into one of two categories – that is, the tracks are either fast and jarring (‘Momentary Relapse of Pain’) or more slowed down and ballad like (‘The Pensive Disarray’). If anything, it would have been favourable to find a bit more diversity between songs on the album. This is just a small gripe though, because when listening to the songs on their own merit they are quite excellent indeed. Perhaps the perfect example of this is the triple hitter of ‘Seize The Day,’ ‘Stare into the Night’ and ‘Broken’ where being played in succession results into the three tracks blending together, while individually, the tracks are excellent.

‘The Pensive Disarray’ is by far and away the best song on the album, aided by a guest appearance of former Tesseract vocalist Dan Tompkins. In fact, the track is the perfect representation of Voyager’s sound – instantly identifiable as progressive with enough melodic sensibility to keep the listener hooked for its duration. Similarly, the very catch ‘Stare Into the Night’ brings a plethora of 80s power metal bands to mind, which could be seen as either a good thing or a band thing depending on the listeners tolerance for power metal.

The Meaning of I is an excellent record from one of Australia’s best progressive bands. By being unafraid to call upon a myriad of classic prog influences and maintaining high levels of cheesy guitar and keyboard solos, Voyager have created an album that is not only impressive musically, but also a heap of fun to listen to.

Review by Billy Geary