Fatal Vision - Twice (CD)

June 23rd, 2023 marks the triumphant return of Canadian melodic rock band Fatal Vision, with the release of their sophomore album Twice on the Pride & Joy Music label. Fatal Vision’s debut album Once re-introduced the band in 2022, charting at #10 on the Japanese import chart, and in Canada, Mexico and Switzerland on the iTunes rock chart, followed by the singles “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (#15, Canada) and “Breakers” (#13, Canada).

Once featured a series of videos telling the story of “The Lead Singer and The Heartbreaker”, which have yielded over 300,000 YouTube plays and have driven the band’s Instagram and TikTok metrics ever higher.

Featuring lead singer Simon Marwood, who co-founded the band in 1988, guitarist Juan Miguel Gomez Montant, keyboard player Scottie Irving, drummer Alex Wickham and bassist Andrew Burns, Twice shows Fatal Vision continuing to delve into a rich tapestry of sounds both familiar and modern. The thirteen tracks nod to Fatal Vision’s key influences, including Survivor, Bad English, Loverboy, Night Ranger and REO Speedwagon.

The first single, “In My Fantasy”, is a hard rocker reminiscent of Bon Jovi at their peak, followed by the post-apocalyptic, Asia-like “Tomorrow Never Comes” and the obvious Alice Cooper influences of “Welcome to my Nightmare.” The album also features power ballads “End of the Dream” (a duet with upcoming Nashville female artist Christine Corless, also featured on Once), “The Last Summer Night”, and “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer” (which includes a record-setting 26-second final note by Marwood) as well as the mid-tempo duet (again with Corless) “Time Has Left Us As Strangers”, the melancholic offering “Ghosts of Yesterday”, rock number “In The Middle Of The Night” and the triumphant conclusion “Start Again.” Videos are being filmed for each of these tracks as an ongoing story of a lost love and the possibility of second chances is played out.

Once again, the album has been graced by hard rock royalty, including Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge of Forever, Hardline), Harry Hess (Harem Scarem), Paul Laine (Danger Danger, The Defiants), Marc Lafrance (Loverboy, Motley Crue), JK Northrup (King Kobra, XYZ) and Jeff Scott Soto (Journey, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) on backing vocals, Mark Holden (Boulevard) on saxophone, and Northrup and Derry Grehan (Honeymoon Suite) contributing additional guitars. The album is mixed by Northrup and Ron Nevison (Heart, Survivor), with production by Del Vecchio, Hess, Marwood, Montant and Northrup.

The band is hitting the road to support Twice with dates in Canada, followed by a UK tour in August, and Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland to end the year.

“Excellent, well played and sung melodic rockers, featuring lots of quality guitar and keyboards.” – Simon Smith, Fireworks  (for Once)

“A mixture of the classic 80’s AOR, but with an innovative, technically sophisticated, individual touch.” – Steve Leikeim, Break Out (for Once)