Ethera

Firstly, Rest In Peace Nicole Bogner. Hers was the first voice I heard when I first started listening to Visions of Atlantis several years ago. My favorite songs from that era are "Lost","Cast Away" and "Send Me A Light".Now to THIS Visions of Atlantis. Can I say this is far harder than I've ever heard them and I absolutely love it. They were definitely getting there with Trinity (especially songs like "At the Back of Beyond" and "My Dark Side Home", but this one feels like the culmination of that heaviness. I love the sheer epic power, from the instruments to the vocals. Headbanging metal at its best. I bought this on a whim and am totally thrilled from beginning to end. Not a filler song to be found anywhere.No operatic female vocals, but seriously not every band wants or needs them. Sometimes I just want straight-ahead rock vocals and here they are--strong and clear and clean.

This one is a bit more heavy metal than symphonic. The male and female lead singers blend very well. MIx in a bit of techno sound and it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable album.

Great album by Visions of Atlantis. Again I am a big fan and love their style of music, and how they write lyrics to their songs.

Great Product and Fast Shipping.

I've got all VoA albums including Pirates and the live version. And I've been going through all the albums lately. The first two albums were kinda lame. I haven't relistened to Cast Away in about 15 years so I can't comment on that one. But Trinity is damn good. Pretty heavy and Melissa Ferlaak's voice was great. Delta was also pretty good. I was quite surprised actually. But Ethera here just didn't do it for me. The songs weren't that catchy and quite forgettable. However, the sound quality was great. The bass is quite deep and heavy. It was activating my sub pretty easily. And the highs and midranges were nicely mixed as well. I just didn't like the songs. It's no wonder the band almost broke up after this album. Only bringing in Clémentine after this album is what saved the band. Shame they didn't get Michele in for The Deep & and the Dark.I give Ethera 2½ stars. It's not bad, it's just not that good. I usually rate items 4 stars when they're pretty/really good. 5 stars is reserved for perfection. Stuff that I really really like. And that's a rarity. I rarely totally dislike stuff, so most things get 3 or 4 stars. So that's my rating scale.

Mario Plank is singing better than he ever sing, the musics are very good.If you like a good symphonic metal, you have to hear Ethera.

Love the Style on these group i lije to other récords of them in the near future ir great .

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of Visions of Atlantis, but this album just really didn't hit the mark for me. I was attracted to their sound because they were symphonic metal and somewhat reminiscent of an Oceanborn-era Nightwish, but every aspect of that personality was bluntly killed off in this CD. This CD was actually recorded with no bass guitar and that is very apparent in the music if you give it a listen. The keyboards were toned down, but that left the music without emotion and many shallow gaps.My first impression of the CD was not too bad. The sound they created is much more straight-up metal, but it just didn't really have feeling. Maxi Nil's voice sounded flat and just didn't soar. Mario even toned done his vocals and they sounded tired and emotionless. The guitar playing was something that I felt you could really rock out to, but the vocals deadpanned it for me. I was hoping for some in-your-face style singing, but that didn't come from either vocalist.What really made me decide that this CD is one of their poorer releases is the fact that the atmosphere of the music was gone. I wasn't looking forward to the next track and I got impatient having to sit through each song. When a new song finally came up, it sounded almost exactly like the one before it. The fact that the keyboards didn't really play a prominent role in the music also took the soul out of this CD. I know most people would argue that metal is best without focus on keyboards, but after listening to this release, most people might agree that for Visions of Atlantis, that's musical suicide.For all of the negative aspects of this CD, I can add that there are three really great tracks recorded here. "Hypnotized" was probably what I would consider the best track on the entire release. It portrayed Maxi Nil's voice as powerful and a force to be reckoned with. It rocked and had a gritty feel to it, but alas, the rest of the CD just didn't. "Machinage" and "Tlaloc's Grace" were the two remaining songs that really held their place on the album. They had keyboards, great singing and emotion.My best advice is, listen to this CD before buying it. Check out the songs on YouTube, preview the MP3s or borrow them from a friend. Some listeners may find this change for the band impressing and more power to them. Those of us who enjoyed "Trinity" or "Cast Away" due to its atmospheric keyboards and operatic singing will be left unfulfilled by this release. I am hoping that if they put out a new album in the next two years, it will be much better.

As a previous reviewer has stated this album take a few listens, it was only after my 5/6 listen that i have become addicted to it. If you are a fan of the likes of Nightwish,Epica, Within Temptation and the rest of the genre of female fronted symphonic metal bands I don't think you will be disappointed with this album. If you are new to Visions of Atlantis then I suggest buying Trinity In my opinion there best album to date.

très bon album mais un peu en dessous de ceux proposé précédemment, quelques bons titres mais rien de transcendant sur ce dernier album

Knapp eineinhalb Jahre nach der kleinen EP "Maria Magdalena" stehen Visions of Atlantis wieder mit neuem Full Lenght-Material in den Startlöchern. Schon die ersten Töne lassen vermuten, dass sich im Grundsound der Band wohl etwas geändert haben muss. Die ersten Songs sind einerseits zwar typisch für Visions of Atlantis, die Basisstimmung ist aber moderner, grooviger und etwas elektronischer als vor allem auf dem letzten Album Delta. Diese Stimmung zieht sich im Prinzip über alle 10 Tracks, ohne aufgesetzt oder zu untypisch zu wirken, man spürt einfach eine weitere Steigerung in puncto Songwriting-Qualitäten und Produktion. Über die Albumlänge lässt sich ein wirklicher Ausfall kaum ausmachen, selbst die von mir beim Anblick der Tracklist zuerst als überflüssig erachtete Bonusnummer in Form einer Orchestral-Version eines anderen Albumtracks (Tlaloc`s Grace) erweist sich letztlich sogar als kleines Juwel der Scheibe. Fans von VoA mit aufgeschlossenen Ohren können hier nur sehr wenig falsch machen, aber ich denke, dass auch Freunde von Lacuna Coil und anderen Poppig angehauchten Metalbands mehr als nur ein Ohr riskieren sollten. Die Beschreibung für Fans "von Nightwish bis Roxette" hat absolut ihre Berechtigung. Glücklicherweise haben VoA den Metal-Anteil aber nur soweit zurückgeschraubt, dass eine rundum gelungene Scheibe bleibt, die bei mir bisher in Dauerrotation läuft!

This album seems much more together to me than their previous efforts. There is nothing very original here but if you like female fronted metal then give this a go. It has taken me about 3 listens to get into it. Their previous album was ok but (and this is maybe only my opinion) a lot of the vocals were out of tune which made listening a bit panful. There are hints of it on this album so maybe not so much out of tune as a rawness to Maxi's vocals that doesn't suit my ears. I am not an expert so I can only guess. If her voice has improved for this album then it would make sense that it sounds stronger and less strained. And now I really am guessing. Anyway a step in the right direction.

Eine sehr gute alternative zu Nightwish. Eine gute Cd in der Gothic Metal Musik sehr zu empfehlen wer ein Gothich Metal Fan ist.