“This is Forever” is the debut full-length album from multi-instrumentalist songwriter Vinnie Velez. Velez honed his songwriting and performing skills in the seedy punk rock clubs of New York, Albany and Poughkeepsie playing every form of rock music imaginable. He is a self-described Treasure Hunter, Photography Nut, and Fantasy Freak. To be honest, I did not expect much from “This is Forever”, due to the fact that I could not imagine the sound of ‘cinematic punk’. Velez claims he draws inspiration from cinematic visions.
Regardless of the genre, for an album to be great to me, it has to provide three particular factors. One is tone, an ability to captivate an audience through the sound of music and voice. Two is diversity. Any band can play the same music over and over for an hour – for it to be something special, they need to take time out to diversify the atmosphere, timbre and intensity of their performances. And lastly, consistency plays a big part in ensuring that a certain level of quality runs through all the material.
For me, “This is Forever” fits the above criteria rather comfortably. Each song carries itself with emotion, musical talent and powerful lyrics to boot. And one thing you simply cannot take away from this album is that, for the most part, the songs have that remarkably moving quality that we’ve grown to love in cinematic soundtrack work. So there, yes I’ve said it, the album actually works on that level. Mixed with Vinnie Velez’s punk musings, these songs actually make for very interesting listening.
His lyrics and the way in which he sings them are so real, so passionate that one cannot help being drawn in. You can palpate how much heart went into writing each song – which makes Vinnie Velez a truly special artist/songwriter. Chances are unless you are part of underground music circle you have never heard of this album. “This is Forever” is a breath of fresh air from the mundane melodies that have filled our airwaves over the last couple of years.
Vinnie Velez draws from genres such as emo, as well as punk and alternative rock, yet he kicks off the album with a solo piano piece entitled “Upon Walking”, and then follows that up with “A Most Epic Light”, a sprawling rock song you’d be expecting from the likes of Meatloaf and Jim Steinman.
At the same time Vinnie switches between piano driven songs to guitar dominated tunes, as well as full-on rockers, which all boils down to an amazing work of beautiful, emotional, dramatic music. The guitar work is somewhat technical, not overly distorted, and melodic, where many non-power as well as power chord riffs are played dynamically with punk rock energy but there is also a gentleness displayed with melodic strumming on some songs. Premium softer tunes can be found with “Daggers To Diamonds” and “One More Morning”, but if you’re dying to hear the harder hitting crunch, go directly to “It Takes a War”, “Dream and Defy” and “Apocalyptic Fantasy”. Other songs of note are, “We Are One” and “Begin to Believe”.
There was obviously so much time and thought put into each song and it really pays off for Vinnie Velez. The songs all have something to offer, and with twelve tracks, variety is the name of the game here.
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