Neverland – Ophidia (2010)

Hailing from Turkey today we have Neverland, a Power/Progressive Metal outfit that is here to kick-ass and take names. The band has such a bombastic sound that you would image you are listening to a side project by Jon Oliva, or Tobias Sammet. The band takes you through an 11 song journey or epic music that will surely be one of your favorites of 2010.

Featuring guest appearances by Jon Oliva, Edu Falaschi, and Urban Breed, the band does a great job in composing intricate and powerful songs that will blow you away. The band never relies on the guest appearances to much, since their own vocalists: Iris Mavraki and Oganalp Canatan are very good themselves. And if you have been reading Infernal Masquerade for a while, you must know that we have a knack for being picky when it comes to Progressive/Power Metal vocalists.

Before you think that Neverland’s “Ophidia” is a great vocal only album, we must say that the music itself is very well composed and brilliantly executed. It does not have the traditional ‘look how fast we are playing’ approach, instead the band focuses on creating very catchy and melodic songs that allow the vocals to sound just perfect.

Yes, there are brilliant guitar solos, and a plethora of keyboard arrangements, just what you would expect from a Power Metal release. There are also plenty of tempo changes and perfect Progressive sections all well mixed together, making the album sound very organic and not over-done or forced in any way.

One thing that attracted us was the use of some beats and spacey-sounding keyboards, more notably on the song “Final Odyssey”. While most bands in the genre are using these elements more and more, we must say that Neverland pulls them off brilliantly, since they only adorn the song and don’t get in the way of the band’s already established sound.

Neverland have outdone themselves with “Ophidia”, this album is one of the best Progressive/Power Metal releases of 2010. If you like extremely bombastic songs that will surely stay in your head all day, then get “Ophidia”. Neverland is one of the most promising bands we have heard from Turkey, and we hope to listen to bigger and better releases from them in the future.

Release: March 26th, 2010

Country: Turkey