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Hard Rock John, Tholey-Sotzweiler, Germany
April 9th 2005
Elis, Visions of Atlantis, Lyriel

On stage tonight: three bands of the 'Gothic Metal Genre'. It’s supposed to become a varied, enjoyable evening. Each of the bands provided with a female 'frontman'. All Bands are similar in appearance but different in sound and performance.

We arrived very early at the 'Hard Rock John' in Sotzweiler. My first Impression was that this is just a Pub. I asked myself where the concert should take place. After a few minutes we found out that the real venue is not this pub, it’s however situated in the pub’s backyard. The concert area can accommodate about 400 people. All three bands were mainly using the same equipment, so there were only short breaks between the gigs. The men on mixing and light desk had good control of their work during the whole evening. The sound was loud and clear for all bands. Maybe the light, mainly blue and red with very little bright spots, could have been a little more intensive, especially in the right part of the stage. As with the sound the light were similar for all bands.

Lyriel

Lyriel is a band which characterises itself as a 'Romantic Celtic Rock Band'. It was founded in 2003 in Gummersbach, Germany and consists of seven musicians. With Lyriel the classical rock cast of guitar, bass, drums, and vocals is enlarged by a keyboard, a cello and a violin. And this, together with the clear, beautiful, voice of vocalist Jessica, is exactly what makes the difference with several other bands. The violinist Joon Laukamp was just added to the band in March, nevertheless he plays his part perfectly. More details of Lyriel can be found at http://www.lyriel.net.

Lyriel just released their first Album 'Prison World' just a few weeks ago. Unavoidable this album contains all the songs they played this evening.

Music
The sound, somewhere between 'Blackmores Night' and 'Within Temptation', was a little shy at the beginning but became clearer and more powerful after a few songs. Lyriel embraces the whole width of celtic rock; beginning with romantic medieval ballads, up to hard pieces of rock with several classical elements. Gaining depth through the use of a real cello and a real violin, the sound was very nice in the whole venue. No secrets, no black boxes, just hand made music. As a special note; they presented the song 'Lind E-Huil' in the elves-language of 'Lord of the Rings'.

Performance
When Lyriel entered the stage the venue was nearly empty, in addition to the fact that it's always a hard job to be the first band on stage, this may have been the reason why the band began a little timid. After a while they began to produce more spirit. What can I say about the performance of Lyriel? Well, the performance was ok. Not really outstanding but all things considered it was nice to see.

Setlist
The Crown of the Twilight
Symmetry of Disfiguration
The Judgement of my Harvest Heart
Prisonworld
The Singing Nightingale
There’s a Rainbow in the Rain
The Spring and the Flight
Lind e-Huil
Fairyland

Rating
Music 8
Performance 6
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 7


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Visions of Atlantis

Visions of Atlantis was founded in Austria in 2000. The Band consists of six members, Nicole Bogner and Mario Plank for the vocals, Miro Holly at the synthesisers, Werner Fiedler on the guitar, Mike Koren on the bass and Thomas Caser at the drums. After two international tours, including South Korea, Latin America and the Czech Republic, they released their second album 'Cast Away' in November last year. More information of the band can be found on http://www.visionsofatlantis.com

Music
 
The sound of Visions of Atlantis combines emotional lyrics with powerful metal in classical arrangements and melodies. Metal Heart named Visions of Atlantis as the “Austrian answer to Nightwish”, and that's exactly how they sound. The highlight of this band is lead vocalist Nicole Bogner, was is from my point of view the best vocalist on stage this evening. Her unique soprano voice alternating with the robust male vocals of Mario Plank and in combination with the powerful fast beats and the heavy guitars made a great experience out of this concert.

Performance

As Visions of Atlantis entered the stage the venue was a little more populated but still not filled up. In addition to the great sound, the band delivered also a good show. While Nicole was swinging in smooth movements, Mario, Mike and Thomas performed heavy head banging accompanying their songs. Altogether, a good show, nice performance, good sound, outrages voices.   

Setlist

Pharao’s Repentance
Cast Away
Send my a Light
Realm of Fantasy
Lemuria
State of Suspence
The Quest
Lost
Last Shut of your Eyes

Rating

Music 9
Performance 7
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 7


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Elis

The formation Elis from Liechtenstein began their musical career under the name ‘Erben der Schöpfung". In 2001 they were distinguished as the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ by the German Orkus magazine. The band around lead vocalist Sabine Duesner further consists of Tom Saxer on bass and second vocals, Pete Streit on Guitars, Jürgen Broger also Guitars and René Marxer at the drums. ELIS released their second album ‘Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky’ in October 2004. More information about the band can be found at http://www.elis.li.

Music
The sound of Elis, is a mix of gothic influences and progressive metal. Fans of Nightwish or Theatre of Tragedy will directly feel at home. All members of Elis are technically on a very high level. Lead vocalist Sabine managed to sound aggressive and soft at the same time and the abysmal voice of Tom is incomparable to any I've heard before. All the other band members were also doing a real great job this evening. From my point of view, technically, this band is at the highest level this evening.

Performance
Vocalist Sabine entered the stage dressed in a white pinstripe suite. In this dress she was the eye catcher of the whole evening and it was very nice to see her performing heavy head banging in this business suite. All other members of the bands were also jumping and running around to the hard beats. From time to time they gave me the impression, that the stage was much too small for them. All things considered a nice powerful performance. 

Setlist
Intro
Die Zeit
God’s Silence
Devil’s Temptation
Sleep & Death
Devil Inside You
Evening Falls (Enya Cover)
Anger
Elis
Heart in Chains
Der Letzte Tag
Do You Believe
Rebirth
Such a Long Time
Lost Soul

Rating
Music 8
Performance 6
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 7


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