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Xandria have always displayed excellent songwriting skills and, despite a change in line-up, “Neverworld’s End” yet reinforces this reputation.

On a technical level, the singing of new vocalist Manuela Kraller is far superior from that of her predecessor even though the style is more or less similar. As one might now come to expect from Xandria, the songs are infectious, melodic and anthemic – possibly the medicine you’d need to cure you from a stressful day.

Besides having some excellent violin melodies peppered throughout, “Neverworld’s End” sees Xandria develop a newfound affection for guitar solos, even though the emphasis of the music is on the ‘symphonic’ part of Symphonic Metal. Speaking of which…..previously I had never agreed with fellow critics when they compared Xandria to Nightwish but I must say that this time around Xandria really sound like Tarja Turunen had never left Nightwish. For evidence look no further than ‘Cursed’ and ‘The Nomad’s Crown’.

This brings me to another aspect of the album – overall, I felt “Neverworld’s End” lacks the inventiveness of previous Xandria outings such as “Salome’…..” or “India”. It seems Xandria opted to focus on crafting songs that would stand strongly on their own two feet rather than giving them wings but risking a more dramatic flop. Whatever the intention, the new compositions certainly sound more mature.

All in all, “Neverworld’s End” is an enjoyable album with an appeal that transcends Metal fandom.

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