Live Review: Visions of Atlantis - Exchange, Bristol
7th October 2024
Support: Illumishade
Words: Richard Oliver
Photos: Julian Tanner
A Monday evening saw the Armada tour sailing into Bristol and docking at The Exchange for a sold out show of swashbuckling tales and epic symphonic power metal. This was the third consecutive sold out show in a row on the tour which is amazing as power metal can be a bit of a niche genre with UK audiences but it seems that the UK metallers are finally embracing the sheer fun and good times this music brings.
Unfortunately due to work commitments and travel I completely missed opening act Seraina Telli with the Dead Venus and former Burning Witches singer performing a solo show. I did get to the venue with plenty of time for main support act Illumishade, featuring Eluveitie members Fabienne Emi on vocals and Jonas Wolf on guitars. This is a different beast from their main band with a melodic progressive metal style featuring elements of djent and trance metal as well as cinematic and symphonic sounds.
This was my first exposure to the band and I was suitably impressed with songs such as ‘Riptide’, ‘In The Darkness’, ‘Rise’ and ‘World’s End’ having the right balance of power, punch and melody with the keyboards from Mirjam Skal interwoven and adding atmosphere as well as moments of oomph. I’ve seen Fabienne perform with Eluveitie on multiple occasions and she always hugely impresses with vocals that are equally delicate and powerful and tonight was no exception with a stunning vocal performance. Definitely a band worth watching and with bagfuls of potential.
The main event of course were Austrian symphonic power metallers Visions Of Atlantis who had the room in the Exchange crammed wall to wall with bodies and eager fans ready to join the crew, set sail & plunder and drink plenty of rum. The band have been going since 2000 but since 2022 have embraced a pirate motif and image for the band with their album “Pirates” and it’s 2024 follow up “Pirates II - Armada”. It was from these two albums that the vast majority of the set lifted from these two albums.
The band hit the stage in their finest pirate regalia and performed 16 songs of theatrical, dramatic and catchy metal with plenty of hooks and sweeping orchestration with the vocal duo of Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli working perfectly in unison. The soprano style of Clémentine wonderfully complimented the more traditional power metal style of Michele in songs such as ‘Clocks’, ‘Legion Of The Seas’, ‘Hellfire’ and ‘Master The Hurricane’. There was a more atmospheric and sombre twist with the beautiful ‘Underwater’ whilst the crowd were all bouncing for fan favourite ‘Melancholy Angel’.
The band had wonderful stage presence and good natured sparring with each other on stage as well as knowing how to get the receptive crowd worked up. The rest of the band put in tight performances and seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage which always helps with these sort of shows as the crowd is always far more receptive to a band that are clearly happy to be there. With a rich symphonic sound and lots of orchestration, there was a bit too much reliance on a backing track but it’s an understandable compromise to have that rich orchestration without bringing an orchestra out on tour with you which is not only logistically difficult but also extremely expensive.
The symphonic metal scene may be crowded with a lot of look and soundalike bands but Visions Of Atlantis are doing something a bit different with the pirate theme and with several sold out shows it is definitely working for them. It was a wonderfully fun and over the top show which is exactly what you want with this kind of metal.
Photo credits: Julian Tanner
