Voyager are one of the most exciting bands in progressive metal at the moment. Big call I know, but I’m just calling it how I see it. They’ve been around for well over a decade but it’s only in more recent times that they have found a settled line up. The bands preceding album V (2014) was the start of a new era for Voyager – It was clear on that release that they had found a sound which resonated with fans on a global scale. Moreover, anyone who has seen this incarnation of Voyager live will attest to the fact that the band are incredibly tight and have a fun loving onstage chemistry which is close to being unrivalled. Voyager’s latest album Ghost Mile was one of my most anticipated releases of 2017. It was with great pleasure that I received an advanced copy for a review.

The Album gets down to business with Ascension. This was the first single released from the album and it’s easy to see why. It’s a brilliant track and fantastic choice for an opener. The song embodies everything that is great about Voyager in 2017. It’s modern sounding, heavy, progressive and deceptively nuanced and complex from a rhythmical perspective. The catchiness of vocal melodies/delivery will make it very accessible too mainstream markets too. I’m a big fan of this song as a whole, but the main riff and heavy outro are particularly appealing to my taste. If you enjoyed the preceding album – especially tracks like Hyperventilating – then this album will be exactly what you had hoped it would be, and more.

Next up is Misery is Only Company. Fans of the band will instantly recognise this song as it was released as a single in 2016. The song has been re-recorded for the Ghost Mile album. There are only relatively minor changes to the album recording, but you can tell that the tweaks made are the result of a solid year of playing the song live. It’s a fantastic song, with a particularly strong chorus.

Ascension and Misery Is Only Company are brilliant tracks, but it’s actually the rest of the album that gets me really excited. Perhaps it’s just because I’m listening to the rest of the album with fresh ears, but god damn….this album is super impressive. If V was the album that really helped put Voyager on the map globally, then Ghost Mile is set to see Voyager take further strides towards the realms of modern prog royalty. This album is seriously world class, and every bit as unique and impressive as any of the new releases from the likes of Haken, Leprous, or any other new wave prog band who are forging ahead in the genre. But enough of that, let’s get back to the individual tracks.

Lifeline raises the bar for me. Complex rhythms played in synch by the entire band are the highlight of the introduction – progressive metal as it should be. Danny’s vocals have always had a knack of being able to tie the song together and distract you from the intricacy of the bands music and this is again the case on Lifeline. The Chorus and vocals on this track are exceptionally strong but it is the guitar solos which are the highlight for me. The formidable axe wielding duo of Scott Kay and Simone Dow reach deep within their bag of tricks and pull out an array of interesting and tasteful licks. Ashley Doodkorte’s drumming is highly commendable too – nailing the balance between keeping things interesting without ever overplaying or dominating the track. To be fair, that compliment regarding measured restraint extends to every member of the band – They’re all playing incredible individual parts, but the vocal melodies are put first. This sort of ‘song first’ approach is unique, especially in progressive metal where many bands often focus more on complex individual parts to the detriment of any memorable vocal lines.

I really like The Fragile Serene. The big riff has an almost Devin Townsend sort of vibe. Scott Kay regularly speaks of his love for the album Accelerated Evolution, and I get that sort of flavour from this track. Like Lifeline this song has a fantastic guitar solo and massive chorus hook. The bridge section sees Alex Cannion take on lead vocals which is a great change up too. All in all the song is really well developed and very memorable. Four tracks down and we’ve got a flawless album on our hands.

To The Riverside is up next and is a concise ballad centred around a keyboard motif and Esterin’s vocals. It’s a welcome change of mood after the high tempo opening to the album and flows seamlessly into the title track.

Ghost Mile is my favourite song on the release so it’s not a surprise to me that the album takes it’s name from this piece. I hate repeating myself, but the vocal lines are brilliant. At times the song is really uplifting but generally the track is actually pretty dark an ominous. The guitar and bass lines are tight but Ashley Doodkorte’s drumming is particularly exceptional on this one – showcasing stop-start grooves, blast beats, super quick double kick parts and everything in between. The outro section and vocals are so good that when the song finishes I’m left disappointed that they didn’t drag it on for an extra few minutes.

What A Wonderful Day screams ‘old school Voyager’ to me. The vocal melodies and the overall ‘poppy’ vibe make you question whether you have heard the song before. A good, infectious song which is a classic demonstration of Voyagers genre-defying song writing ability.

Disconnected is probably the heaviest track on the album, or at least it feels that way following What A Wonderful Day! Like the title track it has a dark, foreboding quality to it. The Death growls in the latter half may polarise some fans but for me they enhance the track and are a welcome addition to the band’s sound. The guitar solo is another highlight of this song. Pure quality.

This Gentle Earth is not dissimilar to To The Riverside, given they are both centred around the pairing of Esterin’s keyboards and vocals. This Gentle Earth is a nice track with the second half being particularly uplifting despite the melancholy lyrical theme.

The album is rounded out with As The City Takes the Night. I enjoy that the song starts with an elaborate keyboard intro because Esterin’s proficiency on the Keys is often overlooked or at least overshadowed by his incredible voice. The fact that he seldom plays his parts live, preferring to front the band as a vocalist and use pre-recorded samples for his key parts probably plays a part too. The keyboards soon make way for the rest of the band. Alex Cannion’s bass and the solid beat laid down by Ashley Doodkorte are the focal points here. The chorus of the track has a ethereal melody set to a driving chord progression. I really like this song, it’s a good mix of styles and moods and summarises and concludes the album perfectly.

I had listened through the album approximately twice when I was reflecting on how complete the album feels. It’s a true album – every song seems to have a deliberate position amongst the collection of songs. This isn’t an album that could be listened to in a shuffled order and deliver the same impact. Whilst listening to the album some more I was hit with a realisation that Voyager seem to have littered the album with an series of undercurrents or a musical links. Examples of this are the keyboards/chord structure in the middle section of Disconnected providing a link back to Misery Is only Company, the rhythm of the drums in To The Riverside referencing the rhythm of Ascension, and the final vocal in As The City Takes the Night also harking back to the opening track. There are many moments where the instrumentation nods to other tracks and no doubt this contributes significantly to the album feeling so strong as a collective. I cant be sure whether this was a deliberate undertaking by the band or whether I have over analysed Voyager’s work, but either way I’m sure other progressive music fans will enjoy seeing what common threads they can uncover when listening through.

Whilst I enjoy Voyager’s previous 5 albums, I feel their back catalogue doesn’t do the band justice. That’s not to say their last 5 albums aren’t great, they are, it’s just that for me there is no single album which has been able to capture the essence of how great their live show is. If someone asked me to recommend one of Voyager’s previous albums I would find myself recommending a ‘best of’ compilation of songs rather than a specific release. This is no longer the case because we now have Ghost Mile – a phenomenal album and an accurate musical depiction of what Voyager is in 2017. Not only would I recommend it to listeners keen to get to know Voyager, I would recommend it to listeners keen to listen to Progressive Metal in general.

6 albums down and Voyager have found stability in their line up. The result of this new found stability is their finest work to date, and easily one of the best and most exciting releases I’ve heard in 2017.