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Two years ago Neverland, the cooperation of Turkish band Dreamtone and Greek singer Iris Mavraki, presented Reversing Time. At their debut they had Tom S. Englund and Hansi Kürsch as guests, now on Ophidia they welcome Jon Oliva (Savatage, TSO), Urban Breed (Bloodbound, ex-Tad Morose) and Edu Falaschi (Angra, Almah, ex-Symbols). Again the Turkish-Greek cooperation offer some progressive metal tune with symphonic elements, power and heaviness. And so the opener This Voice Inside shows heavy riffing, complex parts, progressive elements and a catchy vocal line. The following Silence The Wolves is a powerful progressive metal track, but a break leads into an short semi-acoutic part, then they speed up a bit and an expressive guitar solo - partly with dual leads - will win you over. Ophidia is a sonic roller coaster ride with Oriental vocal parts by Iris Mavraki, growls, harmony vocals, riff-based parts which have a dark edge and symphonic passages. Will Of God is kicking off slowly and with folk elements, afterwards they stick to the folk elements, but speed up and get quite heavy... Invisible War reminds me a bit of old Skyclad and Elvenking... Jon Oliva's distinguish voice stick out, but I'm not sure, if his vocals really do the song any good... No One Leaves The Hive is a powerful track which can hook you up right away. Great guitar play. At Speak To Me the symphonic elements are a bit more prominent, so you find some citations of classic pieces. At the same time the song has a dark enthralling atmosphere. Ashes To Fall shows some similarities to Kamelot, at least partly. The closer is called Into The Horizon, an instrumental journey which leads you out of Ophidia.
Personally I prefer the debut album, but I think that's a matter of taste mainly, coz Neverland offer good songs with different sound elements. It might be the more folk-ish and less symphonic sound... A unique band with a large variety of sounds, even if there are some reminiscences, they do their own thing. So it comes down to personal preferences.
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