Visions of Atlantis | |
---|---|
![]() Visions of Atlantis at Turock (Essen), Germany in 2023 | |
Background information | |
Origin | Bruck an der Mur, Styria, Austria |
Genres | |
Years active | 2000–present |
Labels | Napalm Records |
Members | Thomas Caser Clémentine Delauney Christian Douscha Herbert Glos Michele Guaitoli |
Past members | Nicole Bogner Melissa Ferlaak Maxi Nil Joanna Nieniewska Werner Fiedler Wolfgang Koch Christian Hermsdörfer Mike Koren Mario Holly Chris Kamper Martin Harb Christian Stani Mario Plank Siegfried Samer |
Website | Visions of Atlantis on Facebook |
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, as well as a pirate theme in recent albums.
Fascinated by the myth of Atlantis, Werner Fiedler, Thomas Caser, Christian Stani, and Chris Kamper decided in August 2000 to work out a concept inspired by the secret of Atlantis. Late in summer mezzo-soprano Nicole Bogner joined the project, and this was the birth of Visions of Atlantis. A first demo, Morning in Atlantis was released in 2000.
In 2001 they signed with TTS Media Music/Black Arrow Productions, and in 2002 their first album, Eternal Endless Infinity was released.
In 2003, the band saw some changes in line-up, replacing Christian Stani with Mario Plank and Chris Kamper with Miro Holly.
Now with Napalm Records, which released the band's second studio effort Cast Away worldwide in November 2004. To mark the release, Visions of Atlantis produced their first official music video to the track "Lost", which received significant airplay on VIVA and MTV, and made it possible for the band to present the album. The song "Lemuria" from the album was used by the organizer of the 2011 World Athletics Championship in Daegu (Kor) as beginning of the medal ceremonies. [1] In early 2005, Visions of Atlantis did their tour across Europe, while being supported by labelmates Elis and Celtic rock based band Lyriel.
In late 2005, Bogner left the band due to commitments elsewhere.
After Nicole left the band, she was replaced by American soprano singer Melissa Ferlaak (formerly with Aesma Daeva) and Wolfgang Koch replaced Werner Fiedler. In 2006, Martin Harb, who already played with VoA on their tour in Mexico in 2003, replaced Miro Holly. In May 2007, VoA released their 3rd album Trinity , mastered at Finnvox Studios and recorded at Bavarian Dreamscape Studio [2] ). The following autumn brought Visions of Atlantis to the United States, where the band toured together with Epica for 6 weeks and won numerous new fans.
Upon returning, the band went through changes in the line-up. On 28 November 2007, a message was posted on the official VoA website saying that Melissa Ferlaak and Wolfgang Koch had left the band, both citing personal reasons. Following this Visions of Atlantis announced a few days later that their ex guitarist, Werner Fiedler, had rejoined the band.
After Melissa's departure, Visions of Atlantis not only looked for a replacement for a singer, but also wrote the material for the fourth album. The band advertised on their website the position for a female vocalist for several months, and on 3 September 2008, they finally announced that they had found a new female singer; however, her identity was not revealed until 1 February 2009, as the 20-year-old Austrian soprano vocalist Joanna Nieniewska. [3]
On 29 July 2009, VoA announced that because of health problems, Joanna Nieniewska is no longer in the band but will continue to support VoA behind the scenes.
The band announced the replacement vocalist, Maxi Nil from Greece, and was also known for her work with On Thorns I Lay, guest with Moonspell and her former band Elysion.
On 3 December 2010, VoA announced the new title of their 4th studio album Delta which was released on 25 February 2011 worldwide.
On 18 July 2011, bass player Mario Lochert left the band due to crucial internal differences. In a recent interview Harb said that the band is not planning on replacing him. Instead, they will continue without a bassist as a fixed band member. [4]
In August 2011, the band announced the title of their first EP Maria Magdalena. It was released on 21 October 2011.
On 6 January 2012, Visions of Atlantis announced on their Facebook and MySpace pages that former singer Nicole Bogner had died at the age of 27 after suffering from a severe disease over a long period of time. The band said that they were saddened to have lost their first vocalist, and expressed their gratitude to Bogner for her time with the band. [5] [6]
On 27 January 2012, the band announced the title Ethera for their upcoming album, which was scheduled to be released in 2012. Ethera was released on 22 March 2013. It was the first album with guitarist Christian Hermsdörfer and with no official bassist. It was dedicated to Bogner's memory.
On 6 December 2013, Visions of Atlantis announced on their Facebook page that most of the line-up was parting ways with Visions of Atlantis, leaving the only remaining and founding member Thomas Caser on drums. This decision was mostly because of a desire from the parting members to play their own style of music, whilst the band was orientating to go back to its classic style. Thus, it welcomed back some of its old members: Werner Fiedler (guitars), Chris Kamper (synths), and Michael Koren (bass). Maxi Nil was replaced by Clémentine Delauney, and Mario Plank by Siegfried Samer. [7] Michael Koren was replaced by Herbert Glos on bass in late 2017, and Werner Fiedler by Christian Douscha at the same time. Chris Kamper left the band in 2015.
Their sixth studio album The Deep & the Dark was released on 16 February 2018. [8]
After extensive tours with Serenity and Kamelot as well as several festival shows in 2018, the band released their first live album The Deep & the Dark Live @ Symphonic Metal Nights on 16 February 2019, [9] which featured new male lead singer Michele Guaitoli (from Italian symphonic metal band Temperance) sharing lead vocal duty with Siegfried Samer, the former having permanently replaced the latter at the end of the Symphonic Metal Nights IV tour in late 2018. [10]
The band released their seventh studio album Wanderers on 30 August 2019 via Napalm Records. [11] The album again featured Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli sharing lead vocal duties. [12]
During the pandemic in 2020, Visions of Atlantis released their first live DVD / Blu-ray with the title A Symphonic Journey To Remember on 30 October. The show was recorded at Bang-Your-Head festival in Germany back in 2019 together with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Prague. [13]
The band released their eighth studio album Pirates on 13 May 2022. This album took Visions of Atlantis to a higher level than before. With more orchestral arrangements and choirs, the band not only fascinated the fans but also received a great response from the press. [14] The first official fan club VoA Sailors has existed since 29 August 2022. [15]
The band released their ninth studio album Pirates II – Armada on 5 July 2024. [16] Prior to the album's release, the band released three singles, "Armada", [17] "Monsters", [18] and "Tonight I'm Alive". [19] Like its predecessor, the new record was highly praised by the press. [20]
|
|
Studio albums
Orchestral albums
Live albums
EPs
Demos
Singles
Videos
Lyric videos
Live videos
Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and a co-founding member of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his songwriting is influenced by harmonic film music.
Liv Kristine Espenæs is a Norwegian singer who has performed and composed songs mostly for various subgenres of heavy metal music. She started her career in the music industry as a vocalist for the gothic metal band Theatre of Tragedy, and is the former lead vocalist for the symphonic metal band Leaves' Eyes. She is known for her work in close association with her then-husband and leader of the German band Atrocity, Alexander Krull. Currently she is a singer of a German band Midnattsol alongside her younger sister Carmen Elise Espenæs. She also released a number of solo albums in various genres.
Elis was a gothic metal band from Liechtenstein, formed by Sabine Dünser and Pete Streit in 2003 after the split of Erben der Schöpfung in 2002. The band temporarily split up in February 2012 after lead singer Simone Christinat's departure. However, a month later, the band began doing a search for Christinat's replacement and the search was successful. Elis has since "disbanded" in order to form a new group called Zirkonium, with Swiss singer Kathrin Schlumpf as their lead vocalist.
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.
Cast Away is the second studio album by Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis, released in 2004.
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2005.
The Agonist was a Canadian deathcore 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.
Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland in 2007. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a "pirate metal" band by many critics and their fanbase. The group currently consists of lead vocalist/keytarist Christopher Bowes, bassist Gareth Murdock, drummer Peter Alcorn, keyboardist/harsh vocalist Elliot Vernon and guitarist Máté "Bobo" Bodor.
Mortemia is a Norwegian gothic metal one-man band created in 2009 by Morten Veland, the founder of Tristania and Sirenia.
Maxi Nil is a Greek singer, and currently as of 6 December 2013, the lead singer of her new project Jaded Star. Maxi is best known for her work as lead vocalist in the Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis from mid 2009 to late 2013. In 2003 she joined the Greek metal band On Thorns I Lay and in the same year she also joined the band Elysion as both a singer and a songwriter.
Pirate metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by its incorporation of pirate mythology within the music and sometimes in stage performances. Lyrics often use piratical jargon and various musical genres, such as thrash metal, speed metal, and folk metal, may be combined with traditional-sounding songs like sea shanties. Folk instruments, such as the concertina, can be incorporated or emulated with synthesizers. Band members often dress up in period costume during performances, and concert attendees may do so as well. Pirate metal is sometimes referred to by the media as a music scene.
Amaranthe is a Swedish heavy metal band originally known as Avalanche. The band is notable for their blend of various metal genres and having three lead vocalists.
Ethera is the fifth studio album by Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis. It was released on 25 March 2013. It is the last album to feature Mario Plank on male vocals, Maxi Nil on female vocals, Christian Hermsdörfer on guitars and Martin Harb on keyboards.
Ad Inferna is a French gothic/black metal and darkwave/gothic-industrial band consisting of members VoA VoXyD and Vicomte Vampyr Arkames, formed in 1998.
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.
Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and former lead vocalist and founding member of the Canadian metalcore band the Agonist. Her vocal style includes both growling and clean vocals (singing). Although primarily associated with melodic death metal and metalcore, she has appeared as a guest vocalist for power metal, symphonic metal and deathcore bands, notably Kamelot, Delain, Carnifex and Powerwolf, and has performed live with Nightwish and Tarja Turunen.
Pirates is the eighth studio album by Austrian symphonic metal band Visions of Atlantis, released by Napalm Records on 13 May 2022.
Dark Waters is the seventh studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Delain. It was released on 10 February 2023 via Napalm Records.