Review Summary: The addition of two previously unreleased tracks and the (mostly) improved vocals make this re-release worth a listen for fans.
In 2004, Swedish progressive metal act Andromeda re-released their highly enjoyable 2001 debut album,
Extension of the Wish, with new vocalist David Fremberg’s vocals completely replacing those of the original vocalist, Lawrence Mackory. Was it justifiable? Probably. Mackory's original vocals admittedly weren't all that great, and Fremberg's smooth-as-silk voice would certainly be an improvement. Was it necessary? Probably not. The album was perfectly enjoyable as it was despite its flaws, and the next album,
II=I, had already shown significant maturation in the band's songwriting. Why backpedal? It's hard to say why Andromeda would have bothered to make this re-release at this point in their career, but they did, and here's the result.
Extension of the Wish: Final Extension presents some changes, both big and small, to the material present in
Extension of the Wish. The instrumental parts from the album's original seven tracks have been completely recycled rather than re-recorded, with Mackory's vocals removed and Fremberg’s newly recorded vocals simply added into the mix. It is made to work surprisingly well for the small amount of time that was that evidently put into it. The only truly weak link in the album is “Star Shooter Supreme”, where the declamatory vocals are unconvincing even in comparison to Mackory’s, which, at the very least, did convey a sense of excitement.
There are also a few songs that differ lyrically, not in the sense that the original text is changed, but rather that new vocal lines with new lyrics are added on overtop of previously instrumental passages. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t seem to work. There are passages in both “Extension of the Wish” and “Arch Angel” that worked perfectly well as instrumentals, but that are now cluttered by the new vocal lines, which lack relevance in the context of their respective songs and are more likely to confuse than to excite. If the band really wanted to improve these songs, they would have been better off re-recording the instrument parts and altering the arrangements to accompany the new vocal parts more successfully.
Possibly the biggest attraction of
Final Extension is the inclusion of the two bonus tracks at the end. It is in these tracks that Fremberg’s vocals feel most at home, and they are also musically just as good as the better tracks on the original album itself. “Journey of Polyspheric Experience” is a song filled with catchy melodies, adventurous dynamics and complex, cyclic transitions; “Eclipse”, on the other hand, is a beautiful ballad with an apocalyptic theme accompanied by a quiet, tragic intensity. The latter in particular stands as one of the strongest tracks in the band’s discography, and it makes for a fantastic closing track. The only problem with the new songs is that, given the tracklisting of the original album, the two final tracks feel somewhat redundant in the context of the first seven. “Arch Angel” would still have been a perfectly good closer, and the problem is that it still
feels like the end of the album. The inclusion of two more tracks after it feels odd and doesn’t flow very well, which is unfortunate given the quality of those tracks.
Overall,
Final Extension is a solid enough re-release with plenty of positive aspects, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a replacement for the original album. Both the original and this version have their ups and downs, so it would probably be best for listeners to listen to both releases and decide for themselves which version they prefer. However, the songs with improved vocals and the two new songs definitely make this worth checking out for fans of
Extension of the Wish and of Andromeda in general. It may be a bit of a slap in the face to poor Lawrence Mackory, but it’s a worthwhile venture nonetheless, both for the band and its fans.
