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Eighteen Visions' complex, often off-time, blasting metallic hardcore transforms bits of thrash, stomp, and acidic blackness into cohesive, pummeling compositions that occasionally break down and groove. All of their songs contain singalong-worthy bellowing from charismatic singer
James Hart, who performs live with tongue-in-cheek pomposity worthy of huge stadiums. Their flashy image, presence, and flair set them apart from the rest of the metalcore pack, ensuring that the scene stayed vital through necessary and constant evolution.
The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California, around
Hart and drummer
Ken Floyd. They released a single and a CD, one of them through a label in Europe, before
Racetraitor vocalist Mani Mostofi brought the band to the attention of Trustkill. At this time, the band consisted of
Hart,
Floyd, bassist Javier Van Huss, and guitarists
Brandan Schieppati and
Keith Barney, who also performed vocal duties in the decidedly metal
Bleeding Through and straight-edge flag-bearers
Throwdown, respectively.
This lineup recorded a 7" single for Trustkill, as well as the full-length
Until the Ink Runs Out. Released in 2000, the album quickly established
Eighteen Visions as one of the big players in the hardcore scene, a position solidified by a summer's worth of touring and high-profile festival appearances. At the onset of 2001, Van Huss left the band, with Salt Lake City native
Mick Morris replacing him. The fashionable SoCal straight-edge outfit next re-recorded its old, out of print material and the Trustkill 7" as a brand-new track, and released it as the somewhat ironically titled
Best of Eighteen Visions.
Eighteen Visions spent the latter half of 2001 writing material for their second Trustkill album,
Vanity, which was released in May 2002, after which
Schieppati departed to concentrate fully on
Bleeding Through. They followed up two years later with Obsession. The band signed with Epic shortly before the album's June release, but it was still issued through Trustkill. It garnered glowing praise from publications like Revolver and Metal Hammer, the latter of which declared it Album of the Year. Touring heavily in support, including a Warped Tour run,
Eighteen Visions shared nationwide dates with bands like
Atreyu,
HiM, and
Avenged Sevenfold before hitting the U.K. with
Lostprophets.
Aiming to take their music to the next level and wanting a "huge sound," their self-titled Epic debut appeared in July 2006; by this point, the band had drummer
Trevor Friedrich on board and
Floyd was playing guitar. For the time being, however, that album would prove to be the band's swan song. The members of
Eighteen Visions simply decided the time was right to move on, and announced their breakup in spring 2007, playing two farewell shows that April in California. Ten years later, however, the band reconvened in 2017 around
James Hart,
Keith Barney,
Trevor Friedrich, and Josh James, and released the aptly named
XVIII, their first collection of new music in a decade, on Rise Records. ~ Ryan J. Downey