Eighteen Visions
Eighteen Visions is an American metalcore band from Orange County, California, formed in October 1995. The band broke up in April 2007, less than a year after their major label debut was released through Epic and Trustkill Records. After over a decade of absence, the band reformed in 2017. They announced their sixth album, XVIII, would be released via their new label home at Rise Records.
Eighteen Visions
- 1995–2007
- 2017–present
- James Hart
- Keith Barney
- Trevor Friedrich
- Josh James
- Matt Horwitz
- Dan Smith
- Ken Floyd
- Dave Peters
- Billy Sisler
- Jeff Boullt
- Richie Taylor
- Javier Van Huss
- Brandan Schieppati
- Steve Parilla
- Tyler Snider
- Zachary Phelps
- Mick Morris
- Jason Shrout
History[edit]
Beginnings, Yesterday Is Time Killed and Until the Ink Runs Out (1995–2000)[edit]
Eighteen Visions was founded in October 1995 by James Hart, Dave Peters, Billy Sisler, and Kenneth Floyd under the name "Macabre". The band wrote a bit of material and started to play shows, beginning at the "Koo's Cafe" in early 1996, in their local area. Soon after, Excessive Force's Jeff Boullt was added to the mix as a second guitarist, and in March, Sisler left the group and was replaced by Richie Taylor. Taylor only lasted a short while, and Javier Van Huss soon took over the bass duties. Later in the year, Boullt also left the band, and Brandan Schieppati was added to complete the group's first stable line-up.
In a 2017 interview, Hart explained that the band got the name Eighteen Visions from a lyric off the song "Slipping Through the Hands of God", though he could not recall the name of the song. The lyric stated "I depict eighteen visions for its demise". Hart explained that the number eighteen came from the number of the beast, as 6+6+6 = 18. Hart elaborated that at the time he was anti-religion and anti-Christianity, and as a 16 year old metalhead, was trying to write the most evil thing he could think of. He stated that the name holds no weight or depth towards the band or any of its members, but was "something that sounded super cool back in 1996."[4]
Their debut release, Lifeless was released on Life Sentence Records in 1997. Shortly after, Peters left the band to focus on playing with Throwdown (which Schieppati also played with), and Steve Parilla replaced him for the EP's tour. The first full-length album, Yesterday Is Time Killed was released by Cedargate Records (the label of Zac Phelps, who was at the time a temporary bassist in the band) in March 1999.[5] The band was brought to the attention Trustkill Records, which was still in its early beginnings. The label released the No Time for Love 7-inch in October 1999. Keith Barney, Schieppati's bandmate in Throwdown, then joined the band to replace Parilla. Ten months after the 7-inch, their second full-length Until the Ink Runs Out was released. It became one of the label's best-selling albums, which led to a lot of the band's earlier material getting bought out and going out of print.
In November 2000, it was announced that Eighteen Visions would be doing a split 7-inch vinyl with Poison the Well for Undecided Records.[6][7] The split for Undecided Records was to feature a Metallica cover from each of the bands as part of the record label's Crush 'Em All series, which had already seen a split by Shai Hulud and BoySetsFire released as Volume 1 in March 2000.[6] Poison the Well and Eighteen Visions were to be the third release in the series with a tentative release date for the summer of 2001.[8][9] In January 2001, the Crush 'Em All series switched from 7-inch vinyl to compact discs.[10] Due to complications with Trustkill Records the two bands were unable to recorded their songs and the split was shelved.[11] Javier was asked to leave the band after touring for Until the Ink Runs Out, and was told he would be replaced by Mick Morris of the band xClearx. Javier played two remaining shows with the band and went on to tour for Poison the Well.
The Best of and Vanity (2000–2004)[edit]
For their next album, The Best of Eighteen Visions, the band re-recorded some of their earlier material, some of which was out of print, with the addition of a new song, "Motionless and White". Trustkill and the band felt it would feel much more like a new record, rather than re-releasing the two previous albums on the label. The vinyl version was released in Europe through Sober Mind Records. Despite raw production where mistakes weren't always edited, the album was a vast improvement in production values. This would mark the beginning of the band's tentative approach to more melodic hardcore, rather than their older metalcore approach.
They went on to record Vanity in 2002, which, while still containing heavy breakdowns, metal riffs and odd time signatures, featured better production work, and bits of melodic vocals in nearly all of the songs, complete with hints at balladry with the songs "Gorgeous", an acoustic piece written and performed by then-drummer Ken Floyd, and "Love in Autumn", the album's closer. While the fanbase grew after this release, this was the last album to feature guitarist Brandan Schieppati, who left the band in order to handle full-time vocal duties in metalcore OC band Bleeding Through. Eighteen Visions went on to tour for Vanity as a four-piece. A video was made for "You Broke Like Glass", which played in heavy rotation on MTV2's Headbangers Ball.
Legacy and influence[edit]
In 2011, in an article, "Stealing 18 Visions' ideas: A Book by the 2011 Metalcore Scene", MetalSucks praised the band as pioneers of the metalcore and deathcore sound, as well as one of, if not the first, metalcore band to incorporate clean vocals. The article concluded, "without them, there would be no keyboards in metalcore, no screaming mixed with clean vocals, no tights pants, and no fancy hair in hardcore. There would be no Rise Records, no Attack Attack! and certainly no Avenged Sevenfold or Escape the Fate."[36] Other sources have regarded as being influential on the development of the metalcore genre as well as on contemporary metalcore bands.[37][38] In 2020, Loudwire ranked the band's 2001 release, Until the Ink Runs Out, at 21 on its list of the 25 best metalcore albums of all time.[39]
In addition to establishing a unique sound, the band was also one of the first metalcore bands to establish a unique image. They broke from mid-1990s hardcore trends by donning high-end attire and styled hair on stage. As a result of this the term "fashioncore" was often applied to band in a derogatory manner (Hart noted that he found this comical). Hart explained the band sought to differentiate itself via its appearance to stand out and leave an impression on fans. Before the band started touring, Floyd and Hart worked at Banana Republic, allowing them to acquire luxury clothing at a discount price. Hart's exposure to fashion was furthered by his employment as a hair stylist [40] (former bassist Javier Van Huss had also gone through the hair academy with Hart). This allowed the band to adopt a high-end look not present in the scene at the time.[4]
Studio albums