'Neopera' is a new symphonic metal project which was created by artists of metal groups in 2011, the bassist 'Dirk Schlächter' of the group 'Avalanch', the guitarist 'Jörn Schubert' of 'Dark Age' and the drummer of 'Dark Age', 'André Schumann', with in 2014 their first album 'Destined Ways'. Their particularity is to have integrated two lyric singers, first of all, the soprano 'Nina Jiers' (which is very close to 'Tarja') and the baritone 'Thorsten Schuck' but with also a singer of Death, 'Mirko Gluschke' and, overall, their style is similar to what 'Therion' can do, the growls being more present than with our Swedish friends.
’In Memoriam’ is not actually a new album but contains two new songs and a second part made up of titles from the first album performed in public and in acoustics. Let's start with the two new titles, first of all 'Euphoria' which begins in a grandiose way and on a fast tempo with the growls of 'Mirko Gluschke', then it is with a melody which immediately enters the head that the lyric singing of Thorsten and Nina makes its appearance, then follows a very beautiful passage, quieter with magnificent choirs and finally, the final regains power with the melodic theme of the beginning. As for ‘Before We Fall’, after a symphonic introduction to ‘Within Temptation’, there are beautiful melodic lines in which the different vocal registers alternate with beautiful duets between the two lyric singers. Regarding the acoustic part, the compositions, all from the first album, highlight the three singers who use their clear or lyrical song for the occasion and we are quite far from the metal of the original opus, the 6 tracks distilling beautiful melodic lines, the accompaniments with a piano and with strings reinforcing this classic side and even if 'Remote' and 'Destined Ways' are a little more energetic, the general mood of the compositions remains quite calm like 'Last Pantomime', 'The Unspeakable' and 'Falling Water'.
In summary, the Germans of 'Neopera' are releasing a very good album which show the two facets of this symphonic metal formation and, while waiting for their next opus, 'In Momeriam' makes us wait and should please to an audience who likes to mix classic and metal and who appreciates lyrical singing... | |
