Album Review: Voyager – Colours In The Sun

Colours In The Sun is another massive leap forward for long-running Perth band Voyager. It sees them following the newfound stylistic path they began on album number five, V, back in 2014 and on follow-up Ghost Mile in 2017. This time they've added some wondrous new pieces to the puzzle to boot. Voyager have managed to change, evolve and modernise their sound in the last five years, all while retaining the bulk of their fanbase, and indeed adding many new devotees in the process. The recent, stratospheric trajectory of their career is testament to this.

How they have achieved this, when other bands have had mixed results, is actually pretty simple: they retained their core elements – soaring melodies, exuberant delivery and a sense of fun amid the heaviness – and continued to write fabulously catchy tunes, but injected new and different elements into their music. And this album carries that forward with a skill and savviness that is breathtaking to behold.

Every song on this record is killer. Every track imbues a brand new energy to proceedings. Every tune brings rich new colours and textures to the table, to what is a beautiful and cohesive patchwork of melodic and progressive heavy music. Virtually every track features sounds and styles that are glorious throwbacks to bygone eras, mostly the '80s, while maintaining a modern edge that is so 2010s going on 2020s. All within a compact ten-track, 40-odd-minute framework that gives bang for your buck but never outstays its welcome.

Highlights include towering and cathartic closer Runaway, the mid-album show-stopper Entropy, which features a highly auspicious contribution from none other than Einar Solberg of Norway’s awesome Leprous, and Water Over The Bridge, which may be the album’s heaviest and most memorable moment. It is this placement of old-school influences in such a modern setting that is arguably the most joyous part of this record, and indeed their change in direction overall. It is also what will find them continuing to appeal strongly to people who love '80s pop and rock, and contemporary heavy music.

But cherry-picking songs is a little unfair to the rest of the tracks, as this record is wall-to-wall quality. Special mention must be given to frontman Daniel Estrin, whose voice soars to the very heavens, whose keytar work just puts a big fat smile on your face and whose songwriting nous just gets better with age. Backed of course by a band whose individual skill on their instruments is second to none and whose performances slot seamlessly into the whole. 

While other bands have stumbled trying to navigate a major change of sound, two decades and seven albums into their journey, Voyager are absolutely nailing it and somehow just keep improving. And we the fans are reaping the rewards.