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Artist: Elis |
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The road for the band Elis seemed paved with gold after their early releases ‘Gods Silence, Devils Temptation’. ‘Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky’ received favourable reviews from the rock critics. Riding high on the success of these albums and support tours, the band entered the studio for their new album ‘Griefshine’, but during the recordings tragedy stuck when vocalist Sabine Dunser suffered a brain hemorrhage and passed away, just after completing her vocals for the album. In honor of Sabine the band released the album, which Sabine had called her baby. The band were left to ponder their future without Sabine, they decided to continue and went in search of a new vocalist and they found one in Sandra Schleret. The band started work on their new album in 2008 and now in late 2009 the fruits of their labours is the stunning new album ‘Catharsis’. The album is pure Ellis with a touch more heavier sound in parts, but never the less Elis at their Gothic Metal best. Sandra has really made her mark on the album with some stunning vocals. A real taste of what Schleret is capable of is made apparent from the off with the opener ‘Core Of Life’, as she not only gets the track off to a great start, but also the entire album. This is pure Gothic Metal at its finest, with Schleret taking the helm and steering the good ship Elis on to great things, if this opener is anything to go by. The powerful Metal continues with ‘Twinkling Shadow’, a heady bass ridden song with bass player Tom Saxer adding a gruff vocal to bring that beauty and the beast element into the song, which is as powerful as it is majestic. Soaring guitars from Pete Steit and Chris Gruber just explode while the rhythm section of Saxer and Max Nascher just ground the whole track, but it's Schleret that once again shines. On 'Warriors Tale' we hear Schleret duetting with Michelle Darkness of 'End Of Green' fame, which has to be one of my favourite tracks off the album. A track that fills the very soul with joy. A great listen with again a Beauty and the Beast vocal style which works wonderfully well on this epic piece. The band show off their modern edge to the genre with the simply superb ‘Des Lebens Traum – Des Traumes Leben’, a gothic metal masterclass. The album
just oozes class as each track unfolds a cacophony of grandiose metal
just erupts as the album continues with the likes of ‘Firefly’,
‘Morning Star’ and the stunning ‘Mothers Fire’, all being
further favourites of mine from this fine collection of songs.
This release shows once again what a fine outfit Elis really are and
this new chapter in the bands life will surely bring forth the rewards
they deserve. |
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Tracklisting: 01.
Core Of Life |
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