Marc Vandenberg – The Four Elements (EP)

2015

Reviewer: Peter Scallan

Marc Vanderberg is completely unknown to me and after having done some research, he is still unknown to me! The only thing I can tell you about who plays on this, apart from Vanderberg himself, is that Swedish vocalist Göran Edman (ex-Malmsteen/Norum) is featured on one song. Having said that, this guys has done a good job promoting himself and this four track EP and the fact that Malmsteen/Norum are his main influences in his guitar playing and songwriting.

The EP kicks off with ‘Corrosion of Society’ which starts with crashing guitars and then into a mid-paced rocker. Sounding a little like a Judas Priest out-take/demo, it does very little for me. The song does not really go anywhere and there is no real power in the vocals and overall fails miserably. Although I can hear the Malmsteen influence in some of the guitar playing! Next up is ‘Devil May Care’ (featuring the afore mentioned Edman) which opens with some twin lead guitars and then breaks down into a big guitar chop and then off it goes. It sounds like an eclectic collection of parts strung together and again doesn’t work. However, there is a reasonable hook line in the chorus. ‘Key To your Heart’ opens with some accapella vocals and provides me with some hope, for it to be dashed as the song gets into the verses. It is probably the best of the four songs on this EP and does have a reasonably catchy chorus. The final song on the EP is ‘Storm, Thunder and Lightning’. Unfortunately, it just plies the same fare as the previous three songs and just comes and goes. Pretty unremarkable really!

As I stated at the outset, I am not quite sure who Marc Vanderberg is so I have no context or background against which to review this piece of work. To my ears this sounds like a four track demo with the songs sounding unfinished. Coupled with the fact that there is no accompanying information, it all comes across as a little amateurish and home spun. Focus more of the energy into the songwriting instead of creating a profile would be my advice!