Chronicles of the Immortal

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

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.

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.

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.

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 own1,000 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!

Die deutsche Prog Metal Band Vanden Plas gelingt eine wahrlich grandiose musikalische Umsetzung der Bestseller "Chroniken der Unsterblichen" von Wolfgang Hohlbein. Die in "Netherworld I" und "Netherworld II" aufgeteilten 2 Alben können über die ganzen 122 Minuten begeistern. Teil 2 ist etwas epischer und stärker orchestriert, während der hier besprochene Teil 1 extrem atmosphärisch ist.Für diese atmosphärische Dichte sorgen vor allem die gefühlvollen, schönen Keyboards und der überwiegend ausFrauen bestehende Chor.Dabei werden die Chöre wirklich gezielt eingesetzt, sie sind also keine Dauerbegleitung.Wie es sich für ein Konzeptalbum gehört gehen alle Songs ineinander über, wobei die Übergänge so fließend sind,das man/frau überhaupt nicht merkt, wenn ein neuer Song anfängt. Es ist, als höre man/frau nur einüberlanges Stück.Deswegen und weil alle Songs überragend sind, ist es nur schwer möglich einen einzelnen Song hervorzuheben.Trotzdem möchte ich das epische (mit am Ende schaurig-schönem Chor) "The Black Night" mit dem fantastischen Übergang in "Godmaker" und den letzten Song "Inside", der mit seinem grandiosen instrumentalen Schluss richtig Lust auf die Fortsetzung macht, erwähnen.Bei "A Ghost Requiem" ist der Chor besonders schaurig-schön, genau passend zu dem Titel des Songs.Der ohnehin schon gute Sänger Andy Kuntz liefert zudem auf diesem Album seine bis dato beste Sangesleistungab. Auch Stephan Lill an der Gitarre befindet sich in Bestform und ergänzt sich wunderbar mit den Keyboards.Ebenso kann die Rhythmus Fraktion an Bass und Drums vollauf überzeugen.Fazit: Netherworld I bietet 56 Minuten lang höchst atmosphärischen, abwechslungsreichen Prog Metal derExtraklasse. Gleichzeitig möchte ich aber nicht nur diesen ersten Teil, sondern auch die Fortsetzung "Netherworld II" (mit 66 Minuten noch länger) jedem Prog Metal Fan wärmstens empfehlen!!

Never heard of this band before. Just stumbled on them accidentally & I'm glad I did. Just an amazing CD. Picked up their back catalogue as well. Can't wait for Chronicles (Path 2)

les allemands nous étonnent une fois de plus avec ce nouvel opus !!! puissant et mélodique à souhait !! avec des voix féminines à droite et à gauche !! super album à posséder d'urgence !!!

Molte, troppe persone domanderebbero leggendo il nome ed il titolo del Cd in oggetto: ma di chi o di cosa stiamo parlando?…Stiamo parlando dei Vanden Plas! Chi non li conosce, chi non li ha mai ascoltati, non può capire. Certo, se si appartiene a quella categoria di “scaricatori” (spero almeno paganti), di prodotti che definire sonori è un insulto alla decenza (artistica), allora si spiega perché questa band è pressoché sconosciuta.Qui si parla di Heavy Metal genere progressive, quindi trovate 1 ora di tempo, sedete comodi, inforcate gli occhiali da vista, se ne avete bisogno (c’è da leggere), ma soprattutto predisponetevi all’ascolto.Per coloro che sono a secco di Heavy Metal, cominciare da questo full-length non è proprio l’approccio più facile per capire ed assaporare questa band. Per i fruitori di musica che si possa chiamare tale, Chronicles of The Immortals risulterà invece un prodotto eccezionale, intriso di pathos, colmo di musica ed impulsi. Il singer Andy Kuntz, con la sua voce fuori dall’ordinario, riesce a comunicare la sofferenza dell’anima dannata del protagonista del racconto, creando un legame con l’ascoltatore e consentendogli di immedesimarsi nella storia. La musica è eccezionale, epica; tastiera, piano, chitarra, basso, batteria, sono maneggiate da organi prensili esperti comandati da menti pensanti... e c'è ancora di più.Qui c’è tutto il contrario di ciò che la massa è abituata a sorbire, per inconsapevolezza (eufemismo) e non. I Vanden Plas sono visionari, sono <<avanti>>, <<troppo avanti>> soprattutto per coloro che sono ancora abituati a sciropparsi spazzatura definita arte….si perché la musica è arte e questi signori qui, sono artisti che ci regalano un godimento sensoriale. In conclusione, cd da avere assolutamente, soldi spesi veramente bene.

I have been following Vanden Plas musical journey since that incredible live album Spirit of Live. They have never disappointed and they manage to write high-quality prog metal.To be perfectly honest, I have bought this album initially only for the spoken intro which I find the darkest, most intense and beautiful I have heard in rock music. And I listen to thousands of bands. That intro kills me. The text and the way it is spoken by Dave Esser just give me the chills. But then, the rest of the album is just great. Andy`s voice is as good as ever and the whole band sounds just beautiful!The album is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein`s Chronicles of the immortals books.