EXTENSION OF THE WISH

This is a progressive metal album in the style of Dream Theater and Symphony X, but mainly the first. All the instruments are played very well, more in technic than in feeling. It is precisely in the keyboards that resides the main difference between Dream Theater and Andromeda: Andromeda's are more spacey and less symphonic. The melody is much reduced in aim of technical and virtuous instrumentals. Lawrence Mackrory's voice can be a little acid, alternating between solemness and rage.

The album starts with a psychedelic spacey guitar which then leads to speedy solos and the regular melody attended with power guitar riffs a la Symphony X. The second track, "Crescendo of Thoughts", pushes a little bit harder with more complex and joyful transitions allied to the speedy virtuous play; the melody improves. The third track, "In The Deepest of Waters", starts in a darker way, with heavy guitar riffs, like it was taken from Dream Theater's "Awake"; more spacey keyboards, frenetic guitar solos and in the middle a mellower part. The next track, the instrumental "Chameleon Carneval" starts sounding like Symphony X's "Smokes and Mirrors" from Twilight in Olympus, but then it progresses to a somewhat danceable speedy metal song, with many transitions: very enjoyable, very enjoyable indeed! The same ingredients make the last tracks. The suite "Extension of the Wish" has the best melody of the album, somewhat sad and nostalgic and orchestrated with the long usual inspired, complex and dynamic instrumental parts. The last track, "Arch Angel" ends the album with a good melody as well.

As it could be apprehended from my previous words, not definitely the most original album. But we could call it a convincing praise to their heroes.

this album is an essential piece for every prog-metal fan. high level of playing and inspired songs you get in mind for a long time.... the sound is heavy and keyboards are less presents than in dream theater. I'm dream theater fan.........except I just can't stand J. Labrie on vocals. ( sorry ) if you're like me, and you're looking for a prog-metal album with a different singer, more in symphony X manner, just get this album ! warning : it's no mainstream here but true metal with big guitar parts ! the second album is more.......pop ? with hum-along melodies but cool stuff too with an incredible instrumental. I'm waiting for the third album....

Swedish speed prog metal.... hmm....

Combine Yngwie "twiddly guitars" Malmsteen, Testemant chugs, and throw in a keyboard for good measure you have Andromeda.

I'm a fan of Dream Theater and love the musicianship, song structures & complexity, and variation & progressivness. However I'm starting to get tired of DT and in particular the latter couple of albums which seem to try more and more to be heavy losing much of the progressive style which originally attracted me to Dream Theater. I think they've run out of original ideas and are becomming much more like a chunky Deep Purple.

In contrast Andromeda are fresh, young, talented, and... Swedish.

Although ther album may take a couple of listens to, tracks one and three have an immediate appeal and are on constant replay on my MP3 player.

Forget the second album. If you want to buy one album by Andromeda, buy this one.

The biography says it all!! A magnificent Swedish prog metal band! The track that really caught my attention is the very technical, flashy and melodic Chameleon Carneval. Wow! The almost five- minute long piece sounds like an eternity of pure melodic riffs, uncompromising of the heavy metallic sound, which i liked very much. Extension of the wish track starts off with a Satch-like feel in it, then kicks of with some heavier riffs and odd time signatures. Actually all tracks are very good. No overblown/ boring instrumentals, and is very lyrically sound.If your tired of Achilles, Orion, Poseidon and other mythic topics, then this one is defenitely for you! The name rightfully describe their musical ability: Out of this world (thanks to the space sounding keyboards). Spaced out indeed! Highly recommended for Symphony X, Dream Theater and Rush fans like myself!!!

4.5 stars

Wow, quite simply, wow! Guitarist Johan Reinholdz can burn up the fretboard with the best of them. His pyrotechnics are impressive to say the least. The guitar sound is part classic rock, part neo-classical-metal. His riffing and solos never sound forced or inappropriate to the music, they fit rather nicely. The rest of the band is very tight and they fit together exceptionally well. There are quite a bit of great guitar / keyboard interplays. They are also quite heavy and do have some similarities to Dream Theater. Thankfully they have enough of their own style as not to sound like a derivitive or copy. In fact, if you liked DT's Train of Thought kind of heavy, then this is your band. They are more proggy than DT was on that album, which is a good thing. For a debut album, this is extremely impressive stuff. It's one of a very few prog-metal debut albums in the last 15 years that hit the ground running, never missing a step. I highly recommend this one to people that really like the prog- metal on the heavy side without forgetting it's prog sensibilities.

Incredible !!!

Without doubt this is one of the best progressive metal albums of the recent years. Prog- metal of the highest quality. This album surprises me a lot, I don´t expect it will so good. If you like the technicall prog-metal in the vein of Dream Theater this is your album. All the tracks are simply awesome, except maybe the suite Extension of The Wish, that is just very good for me, bur not a masterpiece like the rest of the cd. You have only to hear the track number four "Chameleon Carneval" to know what I'm talking about.

One advise, get the "Definitive Extension" release. This album was recorded at first with another singer, and he is very weak, but the new one is great and the "Definitive Extension" have two bonus songs too.

What are you waiting for? Listen to this exceptional album, you will not be dissapointed.

You don't have to listen a lot of it to catch the drift.

Andromeda is not running around the bush in any songs: they're here to show you what they're capable of, and it's a major cliché for some, and an appeal for othres. In this surprising album, everything is 140 mph, except for little segments of 1 to 2 minutes where they calm down. Apart from those well deserved moments, the rest is very ressemblant to what their compatriote Yngwie Malmsteen used to do at best. Malmsteen not being super progressive, Andromeda is on the other hand intensively progressive; many time changes and breaks a la Rush or Dream Theater and cool and original keyboards textures.

This is total speed metal but with more texture and colors than the traditional metal recipe. It's so fast, a symphonic lover couldn't tolerate a full album. There's so much to catch and demands a lot of concentration in many occasions; but sometimes it really lets itself listen easily.

A powerful and dazzling debut album, I wonder if their secret purpose was to show that Dream Theater or Sonata Artica are not that hot in the end!

This is shouting out loud: "Move over man, let us show you how."

"Extension of the wish" is a good work, the album has enjoyable songs and a pair of songs that maybe can surprise you. I think about this album just one thing... is an average prog- metal album, just that. Well, I don't try to say that Andromeda be a bad group, but they can make much more than this. In conclusion Andromeda's debut album has good moments of music, a great guitarrist and some things to improve, that is sure.

Good luck in this prog-metal journey... Andromeda!!!

ahhh... and the pair of songs that I do mention are:

. In the Deepest of Waters . Chameleon Carneval (Instrumental)

Great tracks!!!

By: Epsilon

What a great band!I've heard that they went a little bit commercial and spacey in their later albums but this one is a prog metal gem for sure!A technically blessed band that knows when to play aggresive and complex and when to play ''accesible''.Great synthesis ability,powerful compositions!Go and get it!

Another uninspired example of cheesy Dream Theatre worship.

For quite some years now an almost ridiculous number of bands have been following the Dream Theatre formula of progressive metal/hard rock. We all know this paradigm too well I'm afraid - odd time signatures, shred guitar, synth lines over the top, cheesy vocalist that sounds like he probably should have picked horse-riding as a career instead, bass and drums? Meh take your pick. This album does nothing to differentiate itself from the vast quagmire of unoriginal prog-metal mediocrity and is very much bound by it - and for a genre that is meant to be 'progressive' these are not very desirable qualities.

For Dream Theatre and cheesy prog-metal fans only.

Andromeda's debut brings us a great addition to the classic prog-metal ranks, an already over-populated and, at desperate times, uninspiring sub-genre. The first chance I had to listen to it was upon discovering the band right here on PA, taking a huge liking for the album's title-track. Even though it occured to me there were suspicious links to Dream Theater, I felt there was more than a DT clone in it sound.

And right I was, as the remainder of te album sounds nothing at all like the prog-metal icons. It is indeed filled with technical prowess, brought forth by Johan Reinholdz guitar work at the front of the mix, as well as diverse intrumental sections, branding the prog-metal formula throughout. Unspoken Words opens the album with a pretty straight-forward and ear-friendly example of such blueprint - one which might take a turn for the flaw, when taken to the extreme lenghts of Starshooter Supreme. Still a lot of fun, though.

Albeit, there is also a great display of time-signature acrobatics that comes across as challenging and interesting rather than cloying, notably In The Deepest Of Waters and Chameleon Carnival - a fast-paced intrumental tune of much appropriate name. These are more adequate to exemplify the less obvious influence of the remaining members: although Johan Reinholdz is the main songwriter and highlighted musician, there is also a powerful rhythmic powerhouse delivered from Thomas Lejon's drumming, one that is both detailed and complex, as well as powerful and loud, in a combination not always within the grasp of the average metal drummer (prog or otherwise). Gert Daun brings in a solid backing of this rhythmic madness on the bass, though flawed (if it should even be so) by his place in the mix. Martin Hedin provides the agile backing of guitar, much to the like of DT's duo, but also employing a distinct contribution to the refreshing tone.

The counterpart of this diverse array of metal styles is heard in the melodious spirit, driven by a greatly inspired guitar, artfully maintaining the balance between technique and emotion. These interesting elements are found mainly in the title-track and Arch Angel, where Lawrence Mackrory's otherwise displaced vocal leads are suited beautifully in their more atmopheric expression. Truly a shame these weren't fitted as strongly or consistently thoughout the rest of the album.

At the end of the record, a most interesting addition to any prog-metal fan, but perhaps not as exciting if this isn't really your cup of tea.

We all have those bands that we're huge fans of, yet no one else has ever heard of them. Or perhaps they have, but they're just not as passionate about them as you are. Maybe they like the odd song, or mildly enjoy their discography, but wouldn't go as far as to consider them a favourite of theirs.

Allow me to introduce you to "that band" of mine.

Stumbling across Andromeda online, I purchased this almost immediately after hearing and falling in love with the title track, 'Extension of the Wish'. I couldn't believe how stellar this, their debut album, was. Being a huge fan of progressive metal, theirs was the perfect sound. Atmospheric with a spacey vibe, and full of the usual over-the-top virtuoso performances that you'd expect of the genre. How are this band not more well-known?!

Written by guitarist Johann Reinholdz (who was only 21 at the time... jeez...), 'Extension of the Wish' is full of guitar and keyboard acrobatics that put most other bands to shame. The drumming is absolutely insane, yet Thomas Lejon never misses a beat, and singer David Fremberg's powerful voice is full of passion and raw energy.

Opening track 'The Words Unspoken' is one of the best prog metal songs I've ever heard, and instrumental 'Chameleon Carnival' is an absolute joy to listen to, showing off Reinholdz's vast knowledge of guitar scales and fret- board mastery. Then there's songs like 'Crescendo of Thoughts', 'Star Shooter Supreme', 'Arch Angel', bonus track 'Journey of Polyspheric Experience' and of course, the title piece itself, 'Extension of the Wish'. There is not a dull moment on this incredible album and it's an absolute travesty that not many people know this band exists.

Without a doubt Andromeda are one of my all-time favourite bands, and this, their debut release, is exactly why. It may seem ludicrous to think a band can get a five-star rating with their first outing, but damn, 'Extension of the Wish' really is that good! If you're into prog metal, do yourself a favour and get this album now.