Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky

This was by far the best moment for Elis. This is their heaviest release to date, and over all just great Metal.

The production is very good and it only adds to the strength of the songs. The guitars are heavy and precise. The only flaw with them would be the solos. The guitarists are either ‘A’ great rhythm players trying to become leads or ‘B’ lousy lead guitarists. You can tell that they grew up on Thrash however as most of the riffs are incredibly crunchy.

The drums and the bass are decent enough, but the real star here is the late Sabine Dünser. Her vocals are just as soul saving as Anneke van Giersbergen, but unlike Anneke, Sabines’ are trained. Some of the standout tracks would be ‘Der Letzte Tag’, ‘Pure Love’ (perhaps the best and most passionate song this band has ever done and one that best displays Sabines incredibly talent), ‘Rebirth’ and ‘Are You Missing Me’.

Some of the downsides would be that this album does tend to drag in places, and while it’s perhaps one of the more popular styles in Metal at the moment, there is enough originality here that with time this band could be huge. Another problem would be that some of the songs stagnate. There are certainly some good ideas on display here, but they could have done more.

This band sounds NOTHING like evanessence, and such comparisons are baseless and unfounded. This is Pure Heavy Gothic Metal and worthy of your attention.