Farewell Elis

Yesterday Lichtenstein's Gothic metal band, Elis, announced that they were calling it quits, just a few days after their new singer Simone Christinat announced to the band she was leaving Elis due to too much stress.  Simone also sings for Legenda Aurea, and she replaces Elis's second vocalist, Sandra Schleret, who herself replaced original vocalists Sabine Dunser, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 2006.

The statement from the band reads:

We have to inform you that ELIS has passed into history.  Simone told us a couple of days ago, that she will leave ELIS immediately due to too much stress. 

We have decided now to quit the band. Too much things happened during all these years to continue once again. 

But on the other side, there were a lot of good and lucky moments in this almost ten years of ELIS. Therefore we want to say thank you for your support, your dedication and your friendship through all these years!

But this will not be the end of our musical careers, some projects are already in the pipeline. You will find more information about these things very soon on this location.

Cheers and take care!
Max, Tom, Pete, Chris

It seems like Elis has had really bad luck with their vocalists.  Simone had only been with the band 8 or 9 months before deciding to depart.  I'm not sure why Sandra left, but the band only recorded one CD with her, the rather excellent Catharsis.

I really liked Elis so I am sad to hear this!  I loved Sabine, but I also really enjoyed Sandra's voice when she sang with them.  I was looking forward to hearing how they sounded with Simone. They had strong, evocative music I enjoyed very much.  They will be missed!  Best wishes to them all!

Elis Announces New Vocalist

The wait is over: Elis has announced their replacement for Sandra Schleret as Simone Christinat, who hails from Switzerland. Simone is also the lead vocalist for Swiss symphonic-ish metallers Legenda Aurea. Their first concert together will be next month.

Here is a sample of Simone's voice, in Legenda Aurea's "Years of Coldness."



And here is an example of her singing live, also "Years of Coldness."



I think this could be good!

Sandra Schleret Leaves Elis

This announcement from the Lichtenstein Gothic metal group Elis just hit my Facebook feed.  In Sandra's own words:

More than 4 years ago I joined Elis as their new singer. Our journey was very special to me, and I think that we found one another at a time when we really needed it the most. I gave my best to honor Sabine's legacy and nevertheless stay true to myself and open a new chapter together with the band. I am sorry to say that we have reached a point where this chapter now comes to an end. We had an amazing and exciting time and the guys really touched my heart. We made a great album in which I've put all of my heart and which means a lot to me. We sat together and talked long about everything, and we concluded that it is better to go seperate ways from now on. I simply feel the need to devote myself to my own music, my aims and tasks, and the guys can not accompany me on that way because they have their own aims, ideas and expectations. I am sure that it's the right desicion, because it is very important to me to dedicate myself to everything I do with full heart and soul. Now that I can not ensure this anymore I think it's only fair to say it freely. Elis will always have my full support and my friendship will guide them on their way. The guys have found a great new singer and so I am leaving with a good feeling, though I am very sad about the end of our time together.

I dearly want to thank all the Elis fans, who gave me such a warm welcome! I hope we will see eachother again!


With all my best wishes,


Sandra

Wow. This makes me sad.  I was a big fan of Sandra with the band and I loved the album she did with them, Catharsis.  She was a great addition to the band and some of her songs were very touching to me on a personal level, particularly "Rainbow" which I blogged about here.  Sandra is a great vocalist and I wish her all the best on whatever path she takes, and the same goes with the band, too.
 
She alludes in her statement that Elis has found a replacement already, so I am very curious to see who that will be.

Rocking 30-Something (and one 40-something) Metal Chicks

In less than two weeks, I will be having a birthday myself. I'll be 36. At this time of my life, I'm doing a lot of reflecting, and I do this with a sense of amazement because for me, life has just started to really take off in so many ways. I look at what I have now, what I have accomplished, and I feel so full of gratitude. I really feel this past year that I have grown younger, not older.

I thought I'd write a post about metal women around my age who totally rock, both in celebration of being immensely cool in your mid to late 30s, but also in response to those people on MFF who have particularly agist attitudes towards a certain female vocalist. The target of this agism recently turned 39, but even before this, she was accused of being "middle aged" and "a granny" and the rounding up of her age to 40 was done with derision, as if 40 is a bad age. I find this extremely offensive, to say the least. Mind you, most of these nay-sayers are in their 20s, so yeah, a woman in her late 30s might seem so dreadfully old, but fuck, people, you have a lot to learn.

So here is my list of 30-something women who are still rocking, and still as metal as hell.

1. Liv Kristine. Born February 14, 1976. Age: 34. Lead singer of Leaves' Eyes and killer solo artist in her own right. I love this woman. She is so ethereally beautiful it almost makes me want to cry, and she is sexy and talented as hell. Will she be granny-ish in a few years? I think not.

2. Cristina Scabbia. Born June 6 1972. Age: 38. Lead singer of Lacuna Coil. This is no "middle aged granny" let me tell you.

3. Sharon den Adel. Born July 12, 1974. So, she will be 36 tomorrow. Lead singer of Within Temptation. God, I love this woman. She has two little children, a wicked partner, a wicked career, does a lot of her own costume designs, which I love, and is a wicked talented woman. And she is ridiculously gorgeous. Even in 3 years, she will be no "middle-aged granny." She is just getting better and better, as far as I'm concerned.

4. Anneke van Giersbergen. Born March 8, 1973. Age: 37. Ex-The Gathering, now of Agua de Annique. I will always remember her headbanging away on stage with The Gathering, with that amazing long hair she used to have. She rocks!





5. Stephanie Luzie. Born April 6, 1974. Age: 36. Lead singer of Atargatis and Darkwell. Talk about amazing hair! I have hair envy when ti comes to Stephanie! Fucking gorgeous, fucking amazing singer, fucking amazing on stage, and pretty fucking decent lyricist. I think she is fucking awesome.

6. Sandra Schleret. Born June 26, 1976. Age: 34. Lead singer of Elis. Now, I don't know all the details, but it is well known that Sandra had a very severe illness that almost killed her at one point, but she survived with gusto, so you go and ask her how granny-like she is feeling these days!

7. And how about Doro? Born June 3, 1964. The Queen of Metal is 46. She is the only officially middle-aged woman on this list (because, over here in my culture, middle age starts around the mid to late 40s), but is she granny-like? I think not! She still looks and sounds amazing, and she still fucking rocks.

I'm sure there are others I could mention, but these are the ones I came up with on the fly. Let me know of any others you know of!

Ballads Away: Elis's "Rainbow"

I have really liked Lichenstien's Gothic metal outfit, Elis, ever since I discovered them a few years ago. Tragically, their original singer, Sabine Dunser, suddenly passed away before the age of 30 of a cerebral hemmorage, and she was eventually replaced with Austrian vocalist Sandra Schleret. I totally dig Sandra! She sounds amazing on Elis's newest CD, Catharsis, and I even like her unique, Asian-inspired sense of style. Catharsis is without a doubt my favourite Elis effort; though the vocals have a different style, the songwriting is the band's strongest, and Sandra rocks big time.

There is one ballad on Catharsis, and it's called "Rainbow." I love it. The lyrics are beautiful, and the song itself is just...goose-bump-inducing.

Here are the lyrics:

Rainbow

Fate touched my life
Led you my way
Within a heartbeat
I was caught by your light

The surface shivered
Unveiled so unexpected beauty
True and fateful bright

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings,reach out for your light
To shelter you from pain tonight

A flare in time
Gathered our souls
As they touched gently
Sacred ways of fate

Love entered my life
So unexpected though so welcome
Living in your eyes

And though I know my fight begins
My soul's melting within

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings, reach out for your light
My heart it breaks for you tonight

My heart steady beats for you (eternal on, eternal on)
No despairing darkness can blind my sight
Show me your colours, my ray of light...
I'm burning bright, alive!

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings, reach out for your light
Never forsake, it's once in a life...

And here is the song. Enjoy!