Musical career
Born and raised in Athens, Maxi's love for music started at the age of 5. She took flute, guitar and piano lessons and at the age of 16 she joined her first rock band as a singer-songwriter.
In 2003, she joined her first Greek-based gothic rock band On Thorns I Lay, in the band, she recorded one album which was expected to be released in 2010 until their label closed down, and the album has not been revealed yet, but still already recorded and waiting to be released.
In the same year while being with Thorns I Lay, she also joined the band Elysion as singer-songwriter. In 2008 after recording their first album, Maxi parted ways with the band and the album was released with another singer in 2009.
Maxi's career as a singer, she supported Amorphis in 2004, The Gathering in 2007, Diary of Dreams in 2008, Tarja Turunen in Vienna, sharing the stage with Star Industry in the song "Last Crusades" which is also included in their live album called "Black Angel White Devil," and singing twice on stage with Moonspell in Athens. In February 2009, while working on her solo project, she also supported the Dutch band Agua de Annique.
In 2008, after leaving Elysion, Maxi sent an email to Napalm asking them if there was a band looking for a singer. A few hours later she had gotten an answer, a week later she went there to meet with Visions of Atlantis and played at Metalcamp with Satyricon, Testament and Blind Guardian. In June 2009 Maxi officially became the new vocalist for Visions of Atlantis.
With Maxi as their new vocalist, the band was finally able to release their fourth album "Delta", which was released worldwide through Napalm Records at the end of February 2011. And the album gained great feedbacks and receptions. Also with the band's latest "Maria Magdalena EP" which was released on 21 October 2011.
On 27 January 2012, the band and her official Facebook had announced the title "Ethera" for their upcoming Album which was released on 22 March 2013.
On 6 December 2013, Visions of Atlantis announced on their Facebook page that Maxi, along with remaining members, departed with the band as the only founder member and drummer Thomas Caser, wanted the band to revert to its original roots from the beginning. At the same time Maxi published a statement on her Facebook page that she thanks Visions of Atlantis after being together for five years, and highly supports and respects the decision and now will be focusing on her new project Jaded Star, of which she remains the lead singer till present day (2015). In that capacity she has performed with the band supporting Epica in March 2015. In May 2015, she held the opening act alongside guitarist Kostas Vrettos for Anneke van Giersbergen unplugged appearance.
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. "To Mega Therion" is Greek for "The Great Beast" and was a title used by occultist Aleister Crowley. Originally a death metal band, Therion adjusted its musical style by adding orchestral elements, including choirs, classical musicians, and even a full orchestra at their concert performances. As a result, they are considered pioneers of the symphonic metal genre.
Visions of Atlantis is an Austrian symphonic metal band from Styria, founded in 2000. Inspiration came both from successful Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish and from the myth of Atlantis.
Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Originally a project, Heubaum later restarted the project as a band in 1999, and has gone through various lineup changes. The German vocalist Lisa Middelhauve joined for the debut album, co-writing both music and lyrics for the band until her departure in 2008. Middelhauve reunited briefly with the band in 2010 following the departure of the band's second vocalist Kerstin Bischof, but left again shortly after. Manuela Kraller joined the band as the new vocalist in 2010.
Draconian is a Swedish gothic metal/death-doom band formed in Säffle in 1994.
Pilar María Del Carmen Mónica Giménez García, known professionally as Ailyn Giménez or simply Ailyn, is a Spanish singer. She is the current vocalist of Her Chariot Awaits and the former vocalist of the Norwegian symphonic/gothic metal band Sirenia. Whilst in Sirenia she was the fourth singer and sung on more full Sirenia albums than any other singer to date. In 2020 she joined the reformed Trail of Tears.
Eternal Endless Infinity is the debut studio album by Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis, released in 2002. A new edition was released 29 November 2004 and contains three bonus tracks from the band's demo Morning in Atlantis.
Anette Ingegerd Olsson, known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish classic rock band Alyson Avenue, and of the Finnish heavy metal band The Dark Element.
Elisabeth Rodermund, known as Lisa Middelhauve is a German musician, better known as the former lead vocalist and pianist of German symphonic metal band Xandria from early 2000, until April 2008, but returned as their singer in 2010, only to finish the remaining live shows due to their second lead vocalist, Kerstin Bischof's departure.
Serenity is an Austrian symphonic power metal band, originally formed back in 2001. They became a more stable group with a consistent line-up in 2004, when it also began using more progressive and power influences than earlier. They have defined their genre with more melodic and symphonic metal elements.
The Agonist was a Canadian melodic death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2004. The last known lineup consisted of lead guitarist Danny Marino, bassist Chris Kells, drummer Simon Mckay, rhythm guitarist Pascal "Paco" Jobin and lead vocalist Vicky Psarakis, who joined in March 2014 following the departure of vocalist and founding member Alissa White-Gluz.
Melissa Marie Ferlaak (born April 26, 1979) is an American soprano, best known as the former singer of symphonic metal bands Aesma Daeva, Visions of Atlantis, and Echoterra. She is the singer of doom/death metal project Plague of Stars and the ambient band MY Eternel with Voa voxyd. She wrote the libretto and vocal parts for the opera Demandolx, and sang the role of Madeleine on the recording. She has appeared as a guest with bands such as Ad Inferna, Therion, Beto Vazquez Infinity and more.
Amberian Dawn is a Finnish symphonic power metal band, formed in 2006 by Tuomas Seppälä and Tommi Kuri. As of 2023, Amberian Dawn has released nine studio albums, four singles and twelve music videos.
On Thorns I Lay is a Greek death-doom metal and gothic metal band founded in Athens in 1992. The group has gone through different stylistic facets throughout its career, starting with brutal death metal in their early days, then transitioning to a blackened death doom symphonic style with their first EP, and later embracing atmospheric doom-death in their early albums and later gothic metal with their subsequent albums. On Thorns I Lay is among the bands of the first major gothic doom wave that systematized the principle of contrasting vocals known as the "beauty and the beast" style that became popular in the late 1990s. Towards the end of the first part of their career in the early 2000s, they shifted towards a more stripped-down and introspective rock-metal style. The band went on hiatus in 2006, for almost ten years. They reunited in 2015 and gradually returned to the doom-death style of their beginnings. They have released three albums since their reunion, and a new album is set to be released in October 2023. It is noteworthy that the group experienced a split in 2021-2022. Several of its members, including the singer, guitarist, and former drummer, left the band to reform their original band, Phlebotomy, thus reactivating a previous incarnation of the group under which they also released a record in 2023. Through the years the band's played in Greece and in Europe together with Dream Theater, In Flames, Anathema, Amorphis, Katatonia, Tiamat, The Gathering, Satyricon,Septic Flesh and many more.
New Zero God is a Greek Gothic/Post Punk rock band formed in 2006 by frontman and vocalist Mike Pougounas, bassist Costas Spanos, drummer Dimitris “Sidheog” Steves, and guitarist Averkios Hadjiantoniadis.
Elysion is a Greek gothic metal band from Athens, Greece, formed in 2006.
Delta is the fourth studio album by Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis featuring the new vocalist Maxi Nil. It was released on 25 February 2011.
Silent Scr3am is the first studio album by Greek gothic metal band Elysion, released on December 21, 2009 by Massacre Records.
Clémentine Delauney is a French singer with a soprano vocal range who is currently singing for the symphonic metal bands Visions of Atlantis and Exit Eden. Previously she was the female backing vocalist for Austrian symphonic power metal band Serenity and the vocalist of French philharmonic metal band Whyzdom.
Georg Neuhauser is an Austrian metal vocalist, best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter for the Austrian symphonic power metal band Serenity. He helped create the stable line up of Serenity in 2004, and has released 4 full-length albums and 1 demo with the band. He has also appeared as guest vocalist on several albums, including Score to a New Beginning by Fairyland and The Human Contradiction by Delain.
