Review of Elis - God's Silence Devil's Temptation

For an interesting dichotomy, I decided to review Elis’ album of very gothic music directly after listening to the blackened thrash of Absu. Elis serve as musical ambassadors to me, because I was unaware that there were even any metal acts in the diminutive land of Lichtenstein, but here’s one for your consumption. In short, they play a very melodious style of gothic metal (if you could even call it “metal”), driven by the angelic voice of Sabine Dunser. Of all people to remind me of, I think she sounds a lot like Madonna. Not Hussy-Madonna, but Mom-Madonna, of recent years, so you know Sabine can sing well. The keyboards play a major role, always present in the background. Elis has two guitarists, which surprises me, because it’s hard to differentiate the two except for the occasional solo. Unfortunately, these two guys are very under-represented on this album. Every so often, my attention will start to drift, and then a killer, but short-lived riff brings me back into focus. If the guitarists had more freedom to operate, I feel that Elis could have released a strong, more metallic goth album. Instead, the album has a soft feel to it, and that’s reinforced in the production. The mix is clean and sterile, with the guitars smoothed over to the point that the distorted parts hardly seem so. It’s not really a flawed production, it just lacks some fire. Most of the songs are sung in English, but three are in their native German. I think I read that one of these is a love song, but for all I know she could be praising Odin. The two songs that comprise the title of the album, “God’s Silence” and “Devil’s Temptation” are among the best this album has to offer. They are moderately heavy, in that atmospheric way of mixing heavy, plodding riffs with creepy keys. Another plus are the alternating vocals between Sabine and the growls of bassist Tom Saxer. A few of the songs (“Where You Belong”, “Do You Believe”) also follow this pattern of starting off ominous, like a diet-Cradle of Filth, then dip into verses with lush keys, stay serene for awhile, then build back up at the end. “Child” fits nicely into the Nightwish discography. But, the majority of the songs are of a slower, more delicate variety. Much of the material here reminds me of a band we reviewed awhile back called The Blue Season. Also, most of the other reviews I’ve seen compare them to Within Temptation, who I’ve never heard, so that’s another point of reference. Personally, I wish that they had taken a more aggressive approach, but this is geared towards a crowd with softer ears than I. God’s Silence, Devil’s Temptation is an album that strives to sound beautiful, yet mildly sinister. I can’t give this a solid endorsement, but some of you goth-nuts will enjoy this, so grab some samples from their site.

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Elis

God's Silence Devil's Temptation

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