Neverland

Schizophrenia is the first full-length effort from Neverland, a Progressive Power Metal band from Switzerland. The band was formed back in 1999 by Daniel Huber (guitar) and Boris Stroll (drums) while both studied music in Zurich, Switzerland. They recruited Andreas Mislin (guitar), Roland Jost (bass), keyboard player Manuel Wagner, and vocalist Mike Zotter. In 2003, they recorded a self-titled demo, produced by Tommy Vetterli (Coroner, Kreator). The demo got some positive critiques by international press. Before entering the studio to record Schizophrenia, the band had to deal with internal problems. This resulted in the departure of Zotter and Wagner. This set the band back for awhile, but fortunately they found vocalist Jean Marc Viller and keyboardist Oliver Benz and the show could go on. You may compare them to Symphony X, but the way that they’ve integrated Benz’ keyboarding skills make their music reminiscent more of Dream Theater, though they are much closer to Power Metal than the latter. Where Dream Theater choose odd-tempo and weird progressions, Neverland choose speed and power. This doesn’t mean that they lack the talent or the musical genius. They prove that several times on this record with songs such as the title track/album opener “Schizophrenia.” In this song, the guitar is brilliant; sometimes fast scale-playing, other times synchronous on off-beats with the drums. Stoll’s drum play may often seem like it’s straightforward, typical Power Metal drumming, but he can suddenly catch you off your guard and play something odd that just sounds great and impressive. Jean-Marc Viller truly has a powerful and wide-ranged voice. He has just the kind of vocal abilities you would expect from a vocalist in this genre. He can reach all notes from deep tenor to the most high-pitched tones of a soprano. He’s slightly reminiscent of James LaBrie (Dream …READ MORE