Chronicles of the Immortal

Germany's Vanden Plas, who started their career in the 90's with a melodic metal style (Colour Temple) and then joined the commercial progressive metal genre ala Dream Theater with 1997's The God Thing and 1999's Far Off Grace, have evolved into a progressive metal opera band over the course of the past decade. This new release follows in the same concept metal opera vein as 2006's Christ O and 2010's The Seraphic Clockwork. The band line-up remains basically intact with Stephen Lill (guitars), Gunter Werno (keys), Andreas Lill (drums) and Andy Kuntz (vocals) The new release is based on a series by the same name created by renowned German fantasy/sci-fi author Wolfgang Hohlbein who has been a fan of the band for some time and agreed to collaborate with them on this project. This is the first installment in the series of undetermined length. Without going in to much detail, the story chronicles the struggles of an immortal man to choose his destiny based on visions he is receiving from a satanic shape-shifter trying to trick him into giving up his humanity in exchange for the power to become a god. Musically, this follows closely with what has gone before, but I think the songs are better than on the last release. Kuntz sounds great - like his voice hasn't aged in the past 15 years - and Lill's guitars anchor the Vanden Plas sound amidst the cacophony of choral arrangements, piano interludes and powerful drumming. It's basically a formula that has worked very well for this band for years and they remain consistent and engaging on all levels. Multi CD releases are tough to complete over long periods of time so I suspect we won't have to wait another 4 or 5 years for the sequel. With the exception of Ayreon, there aren't many out there doing the rock/metal opera as consistently well as Vanden Plas.

Another impeccable effort from perhaps the best progressive metal band out there. A bit less metal than the prior two albums, Chronicles is an album full of songs that flow very well together with none of the instruments really overstepping the other. Yes, the beautiful keyboards are present as are the guitars, they're just in a slightly different wrapper this time around, meshing together for what the song calls for. Honestly I preferred Christ O & Seraphic Clockwork better (ok, I'm a metal guy at heart) but this album just gets into your head. It took a few more listens than I am used to but the hooks are there, the insightful lyrical content, as always, is there & the musicianship is tight. It is my understanding that the second part of this album is already written & due for release in 2015 & I can hardly wait to hear how it pairs up to this album.

I discovered this band approximately two years ago with “Christ O” and they immediately rose to one of my favorite progressive metal bands. “Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld” is an excellent album and I would have given it five stars if I could keep from comparing it to their previous releases. If anyone is considering buying this album, I am quite sure that you would enjoy it. I certainly do. P.S. Vanden Plas, if you are reading this, please consider a North America tour. Thank you.

Like Kamelot, Opeth & EVERGREY. These are my favorite bands.

This bands instrumentation is always massive, my personal favorite of any band, period. Stephan Lill's guitar work another personal favorite of any band. His chord usage blows me far away. Günter Werno's keyboards up there with the best of all time. Andreas Lill's drum work very very tasty as is Torsten Reichert's bass guitar, a special rhythm section. Andy Kuntz's vocals can be a little whinny at times but strong. His lyrics are always poetic. Musically their best.

I simply can't say enough about Vanden Plas. They are clearly one of best if not the best Hard Progressive Bands around. The last two albums which includes this album and The Seraphic Clockwork are masterpieces. The only thing that is needed is for Vanden Plas to perform both albums in their entirety live and to record them on Blu-Ray DVD so we can finally see this great band on video. Jerry

A good cd by one of my favorite bands, but I wish they would change up their sound a little. My complaint is that except for the lyrics you can take any song from the band's last three CDs and drop them on one of the other CDs and not know the difference. Still for prog metal fans this is a great release.

Oh My, Whatever Deity that metal-heads pray to... This album IS one of, if not the best, albums of the year! I own 1,000 CDs, and "The God Thing", was the only VP in my collection; until now! I give it 5 stars, in the vein of , 'The Black Halo', and 'Distant is the Sun', by VANISHING POINT, are my 2 favorite CDs right now! PLEASE SUPPORT THESE BANDS!