A lost city of pure operatic metal beauty.
Symphonic metal has to be one of the most beautiful and imaginative genres of metal that there is out there, capable of moulding around all inspirations and topics spanning from fantasy to reality, happiness to sorrow and heartache, the style always delivers a sheer sense of power and majesty. Symphonic metal also marries the elegance of class and of classical music with the emotions and rawness of metal and opens the door for the finest of operatic voices to lend their beautiful vocal contributions to dance with this already stunning sound. This has paved the way for many beautiful angels with heavenly voices to shine and the rise in popularity in female fronted bands has lead to the increasing success of bands such as Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Epica. Such huge bands as these have also inspired and influenced others to join in this unique sound and Visions of Atlantis are such a band, inspired and fascinated by the myths surrounding the Lost City of Atlantis from which they take their name. Visions of Atlantis are one of those bands, however, that does not just fade into the background and shadow of those greater known artists and do far more then stick to the customary metal ballad style of many of these bands. Visions of Atlantis have the gift of exploiting musical extremes marrying hymn like tracks to more metal orientated sounds and then comparing them against contemporary elements and down tuned guitar. Rather then just take one element of symphonic metal and use it throughout, Visions of Atlantis use all format and experiment with them, fully expressing the sheer beauty and the flexibility of their talents.
Unlike a lot of female fronted/co fronted female bands in this genre Visions of Atlantis also strike perfect vocal balance between both Melissa Ferlaak and Mario Plank sharing equal responsibility as opposed to being solely female dominated with scant contributions from the male vocals as often happens with other bands. Melissa's incredibly powerful and soprano operatic voice also blends with the almost operatic but yet still gruff metallic voice of Mario Plank, so much so that they almost blend together into one big voice. This Phantom of the Opera like charm really adds a romantic beauty to the already gothic soundscape and supports the epic quality of the album.
The first track 'At the Back of Beyond' starts off with a beautiful epic keyboard introduction that quickly drops in with a choir and epic guitar solo that is so dramatic and driving that it could easily become the perfect soundtrack for a fantasy movie. This very quickly moves into a powerfully delivered vocal collaboration opened by the soaring and angelic vocals of Melissa followed swiftly by Mario, who at times has a tendency to sound alike to Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot, but retains an air of his own sense of identity at the same time. This is a beautiful song full of adventure and curiosity and is a true metal anthem.
'The Poem' is a gentle and melancholy ballad, lamenting the loss of a lover in poetic and decadent lyrics and a wistful piano backdrop emphasised by mournful droning keys. Here vocals are dominantly handled by Mario and here he demonstrates his ability to sing with real emotion and narrative as well as providing raw and gruff accompaniment. Melissa offers accompaniment here in the shape of chorus and verse backing vocals. As the song shifts into the final chorus it modulates into the nearest major key giving it a slightly happier feel as if the subject has experienced closure from his/her pain and brings the track to a beautiful finish. A truly powerful and moving metal ballad.
'Through My Eyes' has a bitter bite and raw edge to it that is not unlike 'Slaying the Dreamer' by Nightwish. With driving and relentless riffs the song is an angry and wounded collection of clashing vocals, sharp orchestration and pained operatic breaks, the piece almost breaking out into full metallic aria in places. The chorus is packed with explosive hooks and is pure head banging material.
The whole album in itself is a work of eleven masterpieces with not one weak track to its name. Visions of Atlantis really prove here that they are worthy of appearing next to the likes of Nightwish and Epica and that they truly can hold their own in comparison. Visions of Atlantis are definitely another band to add to your list if operatic metal treasures are your kind of thing.