Song Of The Week: 1/6/13

Song: "Patricide"

Artist: Eighteen Visions

Album: "Lifeless" EP

Year: 1997



"Patricide" appears to come from the mindset of a murderous person. The word itself's meaning is to kill one's father. The vocalist is definitely the killer in this song and his stare is cold and his motives are evil. He actually wants to relish in his victim's demise and watch him die in a pool of his own blood. Eighteen Visions, from Orange County, California, formed as a band back in 1995. When their "Lifeless" EP was released back in 1997, the band was very much a metalcore band, full of heavy metal riffs and gutteral vocals. The band released their first full length studio album in 1999, entitled "Yesterday Is Time Killed". This garnered some interest from upstart label Trustkill Records who went on to sign Eighteen Visions. Their first release with Trustkill was a 7" called "No Time For Love". Then in 2000, the band dropped their second full length, "Until The Ink Runs Out". The band's next move would be to re-record some tracks from their early EP and 7" and package them in an album called "The Best Of Eighteen Visions". It was around this time that the band began to steer towards being more accessible to the masses and their style was less and less metalcore and more and more melodic hardcore. Their 2002 release, "Vanity", definitely began to show signs of the band's stylistic change but it was even more evident in their 2004 album, "Obsession". "Obsession" spawned three singles, "Waiting For The Heavens", "Tower Of Snakes" and "I Let Go", all of which helped Eighteen Visions have their most successful album to date. It would also prove to be their last album with Trustkill Records as the band went on to sign with major label Epic Records. In 2006, using the slick production provided by a major label, Eighteen Visions released their self-titled album. They decided on the heavy rocker, "Victim" to be the album's first single. It was at this stage of their career that they were more often compared to bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine than some of the metalcore bands that they were associated with in their early years. Epic Records did not really push to promote the band or the album however and they basically wound up falling through the cracks of rock and roll mediocrity. After finishing up a tour of Australia in 2007, Eighteen Visions decided to call it quits as a band. Currently, most members of Eighteen Visions are focused on several different musical projects and the book appears officially closed on Eighteen Visions as a band. Though they lasted for twelve years, which is a long time for any band, they just couldn't quite get over the hump no matter which style they tried to adapt. Perhaps the drastic change in styles was the very reason they didn't find quite the success that they had hoped to attain as a band.