Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky

Elis is a goth metal band from Germany. I first heard about Elis in the recent issue of Outburn magazine and my curiousity was immediately piqued. I was awfully curious to hear what lead singer Sabine Duenser sounded like. After hearing samples of Elis' second album "Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky", I was immediately hooked and bought the album.

I am not really big on goth-metal because nowadays it seems like a lot of bands in the genre are trying to be the next Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, or Nightwish. Elis is definitely neither. Sabine Duenser sings like an angel. Her voice is neither thin nor weak. Her voice is very clear which makes it easier for me to understand what she is singing. If she sounds like anyone, Sabine reminds me of Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes. The best example of her vocal talents shows on the ballads like "Perfect Love" and "Ballade". She has one of the best voices in metal I have ever heard (next to Nightwish's Tarja Turunen).

I cannot forget about Sabine's bandmates Jurgen, Pete, and Tom really compliments. The crunchy metal guitar riffs and Sabine's angelic vocals are an excellent combination, like Beauty and the Beast. Without Sabine's vocals, the music reminds me of Nightwish on their album "Once". The music has that same aggressive guitar sound that is on "Once". I really loved the aggressiveness on "Die Zeit" in particular. The song is aggressive yet melodic thanks to Sabine's beautiful voice. Like Nightwish's Tarja and bassist Marco, Elis' bassist Tom Saxer shares vocal duties with Sabine on a couple of tracks ("Heart in Chains" and "Are You Missing Me"). His vocals are nowhere as clean and polished as Sabine's but rather gruff. As much as I liked the songs that Tom sings on, I have to say that the songs that Sabine sings alone on are much more stronger.

The songwriting on the album is very strong. There isn't an ounce of pretention which often plagues a lot of goth metal bands. I felt like I could relate to songs like "Anger" because sometimes I feel like I need someone to calm the anger in me. Same with "Lost Soul". The lyrics really spoke to me on a personal level because sometimes I do feel like a lost soul or so to speak. There were a couple of songs on the album that were written in German ("Der Letzte Tag" and "Die Zeit") which I do not know what the english translation for.

The production is really good. Alexander Krull (of Atrocity) produces the album. The guitars are really upfront yet they don't drown out the rhythmn section of the band. Same with Sabine's vocals. She does not drown out the rest of her bandmates with her vocals. The bass and drums are clearly heard on the cd. Sometimes on a lot of records, I can barely hear the bass guitar but on this album, Tom Shayer's bass playing can be heard.

There is another version of "Dark Cloud in a Perfect Sky" that has a bonus track of a cover of Maria McKee's "Show Me Heaven" but I don't have that version. I wish I did though. I wish the record company included that on the cds that aren't packaged as digipacks. Only 47 minutes long, after listening to "Dark Cloud in a Perfect Sky" left me hungering for more but that is a good thing because better to be left off wanting more than thinking that this was a mediocre album that is too long.

"Dark Cloud in a Perfect Sky" is an excellent representation of gothic metal. If you dig Lacuna Coil, Theatre of Tragedy (w/Liv Kristine), and Leave's Eyes, Elis' music is definitely right up your alley.