The Vivaldi Metal Project is a music creation born from an idea conceived and developed by Italian keyboard player, composer and producer Mistheria (solo artist, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Rock, Roy Z, Artlantica). The concept was to produce a symphonic-metal opera based on Antonio Vivaldi’s Baroque masterwork “The Four Seasons”, and to complete this he brought in more than 130 metal and classical artists, orchestra, a string quartet and three choirs from all over the world. It features all the movements from Antonio Vivaldi’s original score plus two original new and includes guests such as Mark Boals (Malmsteen, Royal Hunt), Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire, Angra), Edu Falaschi (Almah), Rob Rock (Impellitteri), Mike Lepond (SymhonyX), Dani Löble (Helloween), Ruud Jolie (Within Temptation), Mark Cross (Firewind, Scorpions), Steve Di Giorgio (Testament), Rolf Pilve (Stratovarius), Victor Smolski (Rage, Almanac), Ruben Israel (Delain), John Macaluso (ARK), Marco Sfogli (James Labrie), Chris Caffery (Savatage), Mark Wood (Trans Siberian Orchestra), Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork), Atma Anur (Tony MacAlpine), Vitalij Kuprij, Anna Portalupi (Tarja Turunen), Sean Tibbetts (Kamelot), Martijn Peters (Stream of Passion) and many more.

Now, this sounds like an incredible project, and the talent involved is quite stunning but the main issue I have is that it has been done before, and even though that was instrumental, to me it is far superior. One day I must replace my copy of Uli Jon Roth’s 2003 album, ‘Metamorphosis of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons’, as my youngest daughter literally played it to death when it came out. She was learning violin at the time, and this just resonated with her and is full of passion and soul, whereas this album is clever but does not have any soul. It feels very one-dimensional, and while the contributors are all fine musicians and singers this was a session gig for them and it shows, as there is no depth to anything taking place. The result is something which is style over substance and while I am very much a fan of Vivaldi, there is nothing here for me to warm to.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.vivaldimetalproject.com/
https://www.prideandjoy.de/