''Catharsis'' is the fourth and final studio album by

Elis Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...

, released on 27 November 2009 by

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg. The label later ...

. It is the first and only album with Sandra Schleret (ex-

Dreams of Sanity Dreams of Sanity was a gothic metal band from Austria. Founded in 1991, they released three full-length albums, before disbanding in 2002. History After forming in 1991, Dreams of Sanity released two demos in 1994 and 1996. They toured Europe la ...

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

) as their new lead singer after Sabine Dünser's death; the band released in early 2007 the MCD "Show Me The Way".

Background

After touring throughout 2007 and 2008, the band announced that they had entered the studio to record their fourth studio album, the follow-up to their 2006 release, ''

Griefshire ''Griefshire'' is the third album by the gothic metal band Elis. It's their first concept album, and the last before Sabine Dünser's death. Because Sabine Dünser was the creator of the concept of ''Griefshire'' and the main songwriter of the s ...

''. They spent the rest of 2008 and a part of 2009 recording the new album. After the sudden death of Elis' original singer Sabine Dünser, the band decided to continue her musical ideas. The album was released in late 2009 on

, being the first full release with new singer Sandra Schleret, known from

and

. It contains hard and quick tracks, but is nevertheless emotional.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' was critical of "uninspired keyboard melodies using preset sounds" and a general lack of originality but found Sandra Schleret's voice to be "pretty". The ''Sonic Seducer'' magazine however delivered a review that called the album fascinating and mentioned the "authenticity of each single note". ''Laut.de'' wrote that Sandra Schleret did not copy Dünser's style, instead she was lauded for her darker, more powerful voice on most tracks. The cover of

Jennifer Rush Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", which she co-w ...

's "I Come Undone" was found weaker than the original though.

Track listing

*All songs written by Sandra Schleret (lyrics) and Pete Streit (music), except where noted. # "Core of Life" (04:08) # "Twinkling Shadow" (04:25) # "Warrior's Tale" (06:05) (feat. Michelle Darkness) # "Des Lebens Traum, des Traumes Leben" (04:06) # "I Come Undone" (

cover) (04:25) (Morrie Elliott Brown,

Ellen Shipley Ellen Shipley (born March 24, 1949 in New York City, New York, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. Career At sixteen years old, Shipley got a NYC Cabaret license. She performed a duo act in Greenwich Village in the early 70's ...

) # "Firefly" (04:25) # "Morning Star" (04:17) (Shipley) # "Das kleine Ungeheuer" (3:53) (Shipley) # "Mother's Fire" (04:02) # "Rainbow" (04:10) (Simone Dyllong, Maximilian Nascher) # "The Dark Bridge" (04:56) # "Ghost Of The Past" (Bonus on Digipack) # "No Hero" (Bonus on Digipack)

Digipack Bonus-DVD "Metal Female Voices Fest 2007"

# "Tales From Heaven And Hell" # "Die Zeit" # "Show me The Way" # "Phoenix From The Ashes" # "Der letzte Tag" # "Lost Soul" # "A New Decade" # "Heaven And Hell" The digipack version includes a DVD with live Sequences of the Band from the

Metal Female Voices Fest Metal Female Voices Fest was a heavy metal music festival dedicated to female vocalists, held annually in the Oktoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium from 2003 to 2016. It was organized by the ''Metal Organisation'', which later changed into "2 Wild 4 age ...

2007.Elis - Discography
* 25 November 2009 - Finland, Spain * 27 November 2009 - Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, Italy * 30 November 2009 - Rest of Europe * 15 December 2009 - USA * 12 January 2010 - Canada

Personnel

* Sandra Schleret –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Pete Streit –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Chris Gruber – guitar * Tom Saxer –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

death growl A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

s * Max Naescher –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Production

*Programming by

; additional samples and programming by Alexander Krull *Produced, Mixed and Mastered by

Alexander Krull Alexander Krull (born 31 July 1970) is a German musician who is the lead vocalist for metal band Atrocity, as well as backing vocalist in the band Leaves' Eyes. Biography Krull was born in Ludwigsburg, where he formed Atrocity in 1985. He has ...

at Mastersound Studios in Steinheim,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 2008/2009. *Recorded by Alexander Krull, with assistance by Mathias Roderer and Thorsten Bauer. * Cover Artwork photos by Stefan Heilemann and make up by Sylvia Hable.

References

{{Authority control Elis (band) albums 2009 albums Napalm Records albums Albums produced by Alexander Krull