Visions of Atlantis: The Deep and the Dark Live @ Symphonic Metal Nights

I’ve always had a bit of a take them or leave them kind of attitude towards Visions of Atlantis. I’ve always thought of them as incapable of keeping a line-up together for more than five minutes and even on this, their first live album male vocalist Siegfried Samer announces that he’s outta here and introduces his replacement Michele Guaitoli. I’ve always suspected them as not being quite as bombastic as the leaders of the symphonic metal genre nor having as charismatic a front woman as say Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation. I’ve never thought that they were as innovative as, for instance, Amaranthe’s use of EDM. In short, they have mostly left me a bit cold.

However, and it’s a big, however, a change in my day-to-day routine has enabled me to spend more time in my car blasting out the tunes down the motorway and lo and behold if The Deep and the Dark Live @ Symphonic Metal Nights isn’t an album that I keep coming back to again and again as the weeks have passed by. Perhaps it is the focus on the newer material that makes this a surprisingly good album, perhaps it is the energy of the band wanting to sign off the Samer era with a bang, whatever it is, this is a good document of a place and time in the band’s career. Female vocalist Clementine Delauney is flawless throughout and she appears to interact more with the crowd than when I saw the band a while back and unlike many live albums there’s not too much wankery and nary a sign of a drum nor guitar solo. The band also complete things on a high with a storming version of their best song "Escape to Lemuria" and look well set to sail off on a voyage with yet another different crew.

Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. The Deep & the Dark
3. New Dawn
4. Book of Nature
5. Ritual Night
6. Siegfried’s Farewell
7. Lost
8. The Silent Mutiny
9. The Last Home
10. Words of War
11. The Grand Illusion
12. Passing Dead End
13. Return to Lemuria Reviewer: Simon Bray Rating: 4 stars Band Link: https://en-gb.facebook.com/visionsofatlantisofficial/

Added: March 14th 2019
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 771
Language: english

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