God's Silence, Devil's Temptation

Elis was a gothic metal band that was formed by five of the last six members of Erben der Schöpfung (the only other Liechtenstein gothic metal act on this site) after the band's first demise in 2001. I don't know why the band split from keyboardist Oliver Falk, but they obviously thought they could take Erben's metallic-edged electro-goth music, run with it and improve on it without him -- and that they did. What God's Silence, Devil's Temptation, the band's 2003 debut offers is a band that is still compositionally young but carries themselves with a lot more confidence. Though the band still maintains some of their electronic leanings, they don't have to hide behind them. Instead, they put themselves (more or less) on full display, letting their songwriting and ability speak for itself. And before I continue, let me clear something up: I don't mean that this album is some kind of technical masterwork of turn-of-the-millennia gothic metal, I just mean to say that Elis in 2003 had not yet had the time to become the tightly knit, thrash inspired gothic power house they would become in years to come.

It's hard to say when gothic metal became "modernized" (as modernized as a backwards-in-time looking genre like gothic metal can be), as there have been hints of this happening since the late nineties. But whether it was the traditional heavy metal leanings of Lullacry, or the increasing popularity and sway of bands like Lacuna Coil and HIM that really got the ball rolling, at some point the sound moved away from the doomier plodding that distinguished the genre in the nineties, and more towards streamlined structures and more forward songwriting and deliveries. I think that God's Silence, Devil's Temptation, before Elis got heavier and incorporated more leads into their sound, epitomizes the early phase of the emerging modern gothic metal sound. Like any early gothic act, the riffs aren't the most intense, they set the mood more for swaying than for headbanging, but then again, they're hardly the focus. It seems to me that the metal-ness of Elis is rather incidental, and it's simply there for aesthetic and genre related reasons. That's not meant as a detraction, and I'm not saying that the band isn't capable, they clearly are (the album is full of clever passages and guitar licks), but their preoccupations lie elsewhere.

The real personality of the band lives in the incorporation of keyboards. The atmosphere is neither sweepingly cinematic nor explicitly romantic, but in the fuzzy and hollow production the faux-strings and keyboard melodies are dark and moody, and despite general self-restraint, peak into epicness. Though to a lesser extent, electronic programming also makes up the sepia toned soundscape, mostly to add some deep swells and unnatural tinkering beats and shimmering effects. Compared to the band's earlier work with Erben der Schöpfung, this level of electronic influence might as well be non-existent, but the warbling and synthetic drones cork some of the wholes that the mix leaves behind and makes an otherworldly backdrop for the rest of the music.

All this attention on the music and atmosphere, but at it's core God's Silence, Devil's Temptation is a vocally driven album. It is abundantly clear from the first song, where the spotlight is, and yet if there was a reason someone would be put off by Elis, it would be the vocals. Sabine Dünser (RIP) handles vocal duties on God's Silence, and though she sounds unrefined and fragile, she also sounds more confident and powerful than she ever did on Erben der Shöpfung's debut Twilight. I will admit that when she tries some lower chest voice belts like she does on "My Only Love" she comes off as imprecise and tinny, but her real strengths lie in her head voice and falsetto. She's no operatic prodigy like Tarja or Floor Jansen, but in that range she has far more control over her instrument. She also does harmonies really well, layering vocal tracks upon vocal tracks do get an omnipotent choir feel. Sabine shares vocal duties with bassist Tom Saxer, who supplies an adequate, albeit bland death growl that represents one of two things: he either represents the traditional beast to Sabine's beauty (the literal devil or demon, or the darker inner voice of man), or some kind of crowd vocal as in "Where You Belong". Though neither singer are masters at their craft, they do play off of each other rather well.

God's Silence, Devil's Temptation is a transitional album. Not just for the band, who rose from the ashes of their first failed project, but for the genre. And it only teases what could become of both before the passing of Sabine and before the influence of Americanized metalcore some ten-odd years later. This is straightforward music that is cold and dark, but still maintains the lush atmosphere and intimacy of the genre's roots. This might be early on in the band's career, but they handled their debut with great care and the strong chemistry between members shines through.