Atlantis

It's a funny thing how yesterday's novelty can rapidly turn into today's classic from a bygone era, but circa the turn of the millennium what is now quantified as symphonic metal was still a new phenomenon. What began as a curious offshoot of the practice of various mid-90s black metal and death/doom acts of incorporating an angelic vocal foil to the beastly voice typical to the extreme end of the spectrum, and even saw some stylistic cross-pollination with the then emergent 2nd wave of European power metal, has since become one of the more commercially viable and even ubiquitous expressions of the metal genre. But back in 1998 when the Swiss symphonic outfit Lunatica was formed and even by 2001 with the independent release of their debut studio LP Atlantis, the landscape was not so clearly defined with only the likes of Nightwish's first LP trilogy, After Forever's Prison Of Desire and Edenbridge's debut rounding out an established sound, thus greater opportunities for originality were abound, and for the most part this young six-piece from Sur, Aargau made the most of the wide open field into which they would thrust themselves.

As with any first attempt, there are some noteworthy flaws that speak to the band's then amateur and independent status, though most of it revolves around individual performances and a somewhat uneven production. The songs are generally mid-paced and densely orchestrated, falling somewhere between the more ethereal and harmonically simple stylings of Within Temptation's Mother Earth and where Nightwish would end up a year later with the release of Century Child. The guitar riffing put forth by guitarists Sandro D'Incau and Andre "Andy" Leuenberger shy away from the kinetic thrashing quality of Mark Jansen, yet the generally sparse amount of pronounced melodic leads and solo slots in favor of an active keyboard/orchestral backdrop does share some pretty strong similarities to the first couple After Forever albums with Jansen in the songwriter's chair. For her part, lead vocalist Andrea Datwyler proves the chief draw, having more of a forceful, rocking approach that is easily distinguished from the airy angelic musings of Sharon Den Adel and the hyper-dramatic soprano put forth by Tarja Turunen. Generally the rhythm section put forth by bassist Beat Brack and drummer Ermes Di Prisco (both of whom would exit the fold soon after) proves the weak link, playing things a bit safe and almost falling into AC/DC territory in the process.

All of that being said, and despite this almost qualifying as an extended EP given its relative short length, Atlantis is an album that really gets the job done when it comes to establishing a brilliant atmosphere and really bringing home those memorable melodic hooks. Things begin on a decidedly serene and pristine note with a dense, keyboard-driven overture dubbed "The Search Begins...", showcasing keyboardist Alex Seiberl's uncanny ability at matching Tuomas Holopainen in painting a lofty sonic tapestry replete with color and form. The subsequent duo of bangers "World Under Ice" and "The Landing" prove highly catchy and rest confortably in a mid-paced rocking groove, showing only occasional signs of metallic edge and perhaps being a little static in the riff department and leaning towards an older heavy metal sense of minimalism in favor of emphasizing Datwyler's powerful voice and Seibert's bombastic keyboard work. It's more towards the middle of the album where things truly get intricate, with the title song "Atlantis" upping the musical ante with a melancholy lead guitar line matched to a heavenly atmospheric backdrop to kick things off before landing in a more animated, upper mid-paced metallic stride. "Silent Scream" stands out as the most memorable and impact-based of the bunch, which likely is why it would get a production upgrade on this outfit's 2004 sophomore LP and magnum opus Fables & Dreams, though sadly a solid Neo-classically geared solo adorning this version would not be retained.

As this 38 minute early symphonic metal portfolio draws to a close, the quality ends up tapering off slightly, but the ambitiousness factor continues to increase as well. The slow grooving stomp of "Garden Of Delight" throws in a few interesting curveballs, most in how the orchestra interplays with the rest of the band, drawing even closer to a full on Nightwish emulation with some unsubtle Within Temptation detailing at the fringes. The same basically holds true for the more guitar heavy and slightly swifter "Time", while the final hurrah of "Between Love And Hate" takes a sudden and curious turn into overt After Forever territory with a more thrashing riff set and rhythm section performance and a harsh vocal performance by a guest simply noted as Eddie, providing that classic beauty and the beast contrast that typified much of the later 90s death/doom and gothic metal output that would spill into Prison Of Desire and Decipher, along with every subsequent Epica album after Jansen's departure from his former band. At final glance, it's a mostly solid album that speaks to a band that was definitely determined to make their mark, but also one that is hampered by a lack of performance ability from the rhythm section and an uneven mixing job from a largely inexperienced studio crew save for mastering engineer Glenn Miller, who makes the most of what he has to work with. By no means is Atlantis the most impressive album to come out of the early 2000s in this style, but it's a consistent one on most fronts and definitely a worthy competitor for some of the big names that pioneered the symphonic metal sound a few years prior.

I will be the first to review this album. This is the first album by female-fronted atmospheric metal band Lunatica. Anyways, I believe it is quite a good debut album. It may not quite be as good as "Fables and Dreams," but it is still good.

The 2 downfalls of the album are the production and the length. It is under 40 minutes in length with 8 songs (1 being an intro). The sound quality is rough around the edges. I assume they probably weren't able to afford having a high quality sounding album being new to the scene. It takes away a little from the album, but not much.

The songs themselves rock though. "World Under Ice" and "Atlantis" are the highlights. They are both "in your face" metal with great keyboards.

The original version of "Silent Screams" is found on this album. There is more lead guitar work on this version than there is on the "FAbles and Dreams" version even though the newer version is much higher in quality.

"Between Love and Hate" has more death metal style vocals than any Lunatica song to date. If you like death metal vocals mixed with female singing, you'll probably like this song. Personally, I'm not much into death metal style vocals, but this song is one of the exceptions.

Musically, it isn't really that complex. There are some cool sounding guitar riffs, especially in "Silent Screams" but they are simple compared to guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Romeo, etc. Andrea's voice is good and the melody's on this album for the most part are catchy. Even though the keyboard playing is fairly simple, it adds an atmosphere to this album that it needs.

Lyrically, it appears there is an interesting mixture of mythology and real life situations. After reading the lyrics to "World Under Ice" I get the impression that it is about Lucifer, but am not sure. The lyrics are a little vague in some areas and it is hard to put a definate meaning to some of them.

I'd probably say the dullest song on the album is "Garden OF Delight." Even though I really like the song, it does get a little boring.

Overall, good first album, any Lunatica fan should have this in their collection because it shows their origins and is quite good. However, they have better albums to come after this one.