Cross-post from the Perpetual Motion Board ----
When I first saw the video on Glenn's board with the new samples of Neverworld's End, my immediate thought was "ok, the band has turned into Tarja-Nightwish, I'll pass because I already own the Nightwish catalog"...... Dweeb gets the disc and says its very good and I need to try it.....I order it from The Lasers Edge.
It gets here -- and I put it on the first time on my main system.... I stop what I'm doing in the background and I walk into the living room to listen.... this is scarily good. No this is scarily excellent...... 2 listens into it, and I say this is amazingly good.
Backtrack for a moment -- I love Xandria. I loved Lisa's vocals and her sultry approach to the Gothic music playing around her. Xandria was never about speedy double bass for the most part, and those chugging mid-paced songs easily hooked me.....and no one sounded like Xandria for the most part. Then Lisa left -- and I figured it was kaput for Xandria, or they would get another sultry singer....... wrong.
Someone decided that Xandria now needs to sound like Nightwish, and that they need a singer who sounds exactly like Tarja.....laughable right ? No - they did it.... they decided to sound like Wishmaster, and went out and found Manuela Kraller, who looks like Amy Lee, and sounds like Tarja.... what a combo right ? But can she and they pull this off ??
Enter Neverworld's End .....and the answer is yes. If you can't get past the Tarja / Wishmaster clonage, then don't bother...... but there is something enthralling about this. They inject some of their old Xandria sound into the Wishmaster style.... sure, more double bass than Xandria ever produced but its in spurts.....add in huge choirs and symphonics ala Wishmaster ?? check ..... does Manuela sound like Tarja and is she convincing ? double check and eerily so ...... does this all work ?? Triple check and eerily so ...... this is so well done that I can't help but love it.......there is a certain aggression and feeling that the band is saying "didn't think we could do this and pull it off huh ?" and my answer would be NO without hearing it ... after spending 2 days with it -- I say HELL YES !!!!! and I am completely enthralled with the disc.....it gets heavier and heavier as it goes along and I fall in love with Tarja's, er I mean Manuela's voice all over again, I mean now .......
When I played this for my wife the 1st time -- she said "new Nightwish"? And I said "no, old Nightwish" heheheh and then explained......she was as amazed at this transformation and clonage as I was.........
Superbly done -- superb production (stay clear if you weren't a fan of Xandria's completely digital sound and huge triggered drums of the past)..... this is HUGE and enthralling. I love the hell out of it .......especially the aggression and confidence in which they do this.
Superb. Although in a different (er, same) way -- Xandria is back !!!!
