When this new shiny disc first hit the doormat, I was a little bit suspicious when looking at the artwork of Visions Of Atlantis’ debut full length record “Eternal Endless Infinity”. Why? I’m hearing you think. Well, when looking at the front cover, the artwork reminds a lot of Nightwish’s sophomore album “Oceanborn”. The cover displays a nicely drawn seacoast with the sun setting in the background. Strangely enough, this is not the only thing that reminds me of Nightwish.

While listening to the first track (“Lovebearing Storm”), which kicks in right after the short intro, a female opera voice and melodic keyboards sweep you off your feet as guitars and drums crash around each other. And again, the first thing that comes to mind: Nightwish. Just when you think this is another clone, a melodic male voice kicks in and the two vocalists interchange. You’ll notice that this first track sets the pace for the entire album, as both vocalists are used quite well and really feed off of each other.

Unfortunately, I found the male voice a little bit weak at times, giving me the feeling that he’s just trying too hard to get the melodies out. Although he gets better the further the record progresses, it can be a bit annoying at times.

Visions Of Atlantis really have a lot in them, but I really get that ‘clone’ feeling when listening to the album; same sound and same way of writing songs. Musically they do pull it all off, filling the record with high paced and slow songs, just in the right quantity, but it’s very hard to shake off that Nightwish feeling.

So I’m having really mixed feelings about this release. Musically and production-wise it’s all very tight, especially the drum work, but unfortunately Visions Of Atlantis just lack the originality to convince me that they have what it takes. A good and solid effort, but far from original.