Vanity (album)

Vanity
Studio album by Eighteen Visions
Released	August 13, 2002 (original) January 25, 2005 (re-issue)
Recorded	Dec. 2001 - Jan. 2002 At F1 Studios
Genre	Metalcore, post-hardcore
Length	60:00
Label	Trustkill (TK0038)
Producer	Greg Koller
Eighteen Visions chronology
The Best Of Eighteen Visions (2001) Vanity (2002) Obsession (2004)
Alternative cover
2005 reissue cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Vanity is the third full length studio album, and sixth release altogether, to be released by metalcore band Eighteen Visions. It was their first album to feature a music video, which was for "You Broke Like Glass". It was the last album to feature guitarist Brandan Schieppati as he left immediately after the recording of the album to focus on Bleeding Through. The band toured for the album with a single guitarist, Keith Barney. As of 2007, the album has sold over 100,000 copies in the United States.

Most critics and fans consider Vanity to be their final metalcore album, the band moving towards a more post-hardcore sound after this. It should however be noted that the band considered this change to have begun prior to this album, with the recording of "Motionless and White" which was featured on The Best of Eighteen Visions the year before. Hart's improved vocal style lead the band to write more melodic song structure rather than their previous technical metalcore compositions.

Album versions

To promote the release of the album, Trustkill also issued a 7" single, which included the title track, "Vanity", and the then considered single "I Don't Mind". The 7" was pressed in quantities of 1000 each on red and white, and 200 on pink. Good Life Recordings also released a 12" pictured vinyl limited to 1000 copies.

The album was re-issued on January 25, 2005 as part of Trustkill Records re-issue calendar (which also saw Bleeding Through's This is Love, This is Murderous get the same treatment simultaneously). It featured new artwork and the album now had an enhanced video section which included the music video for You Broke Like Glass, the only single from the album. This also provided a chance for the track listing to be fixed, as the song "There is Always" was left off on the original CD covers of the album. It should however be noted that the picture LP released by Good Life does not feature the listing of either "interludes" on the album, "The Notes of My Reflection" and "There is Always". The possibilities that "The Notes of My Reflection" was actually mistakenly left on the track listing is often wondered. Nevertheless, both interludes are listed on the reissues' track listing.

Film references

As with most records by 18 Visions, there are a multitude of movie quotes on the album. This would however be the final album to feature some (no doubt because the following two albums would be co-distributed by Sony, and would not allow the band to be given the chance to run into possible legal debates).

A quote from the film River's Edge, released in 1985, is the intro of the song "One Hell of a Prize Fighter". Such is the same case for the song "The Critic" which is taken from the film Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982). "There is Always" is a remake of the theme from the original The Manchurian Candidate from 1962. The band also got the name "Sonic Death Monkey" from the band which Jack Black plays with in the film High Fidelity.

Track listing

1. "Vanity" (5:46)
2. "Fashion Show" (4:13)
3. "One Hell of a Prize Fighter" (5:14)
4. "I Don't Mind" (4:38)
5. "The Notes of My Reflection" (1:36)
6. "A Short Walk Down a Long Hallway" (4:17)
7. "The Critic" (4:19)
8. "Gorgeous" (2:52)
9. "You Broke Like Glass" (3:08)
10. "In the Closet" (3:16)
11. "Sonic Death Monkey" (5:21)
12. "There is Always" (1:41)
13. "Love in Autumn" (13:33)

Credits

• Jimmy - vocals
• Heavy - guitar, additional vocals
• Sheep - guitar
• Jagger - bass
• K Flo - drums; guitar and vocals on track 8
• Greg Koller - producer, engineer
• Howard Jones - additional vocals on track 3
• Corey Darst - additional vocals on track 6
• Alex Vaz - additional vocals on track 7
• Ryan Downey - additional vocals on track 11
• John Lacroix - layout and design

References