House of Spirits

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House of Spirits
General information
origin Dortmund , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany
Genre (s) Progressive metal
founding 1993 to 1999
resolution 1996, 1999 or later
Current occupation
Martin Hirsch
Jörg Michael
Benjamin Schippritt
Olaf Bilic
Drums (live)
 Michael strokes
former members
Electric guitar
 Uwe Baltrusch
Electric guitar
 Michael Bilic

House of Spirits was a German progressive metal band from Dortmund , which was founded in 1993 and disbanded in 1996. Around 1999 the band got back together, but broke up a little later.

history

At the end of 1992 the band Jester's March broke up. From the last line-up, the brothers Olaf (vocals) and Michael Bilic (electric guitar) as well as bassist Martin Hirsch decided to continue under the new name House of Spirits at the beginning of 1993. The drums were taken over by Jörg Michael , whose wife Birke Musielak was Olaf Bilic's singing teacher in Jester's March. Private reasons forced Michael Bilic to quit, which is why Hirsch first tried the guitar parts during test recordings and later a talent from Essen was used for it. Finally, Jörg Michael put his colleague at Mekong Delta Uwe Baltrusch who from then on - like himself - worked in both groups. In 1994 the debut album Turn of the Tide was released . Due to differences of opinion with the management and the record label Gun Records as well as the departure of the guitarist Baltrusch, the band split up in 1996.

Through an old, four songs comprehensive demo was Century Media attention to the band. With Benjamin Schrippritt as the new guitarist, the second album Psychosphere was released in 1999 . On the album Jörg Michael could be heard again as drummer, but live he was represented by Michael Strichen, as Michael was particularly involved in Stratovarius and Axel Rudi Pell .

Psychosphere is the band's last album so far before they split up.

style

According to Eduardo Rivadavia from Allmusic, the band play Progressive Metal on Turn of the Tide , which is reminiscent of the Queensrÿche album Operation: Mindcrime . Michael Lorant from Metal Hammer also recognized such parallels and referred to the early Queensrÿche albums. The reviewer of the Saarbrücken music magazine Feedback also felt reminded of Queensrÿche, who described it as “melodic, refrain-heavy rock with progressive elements”. The band's self-assessment at the time was “melodic hard rock”. According to Michael Fuchs-Gamböck from Metal Hammer, the band also play progressive metal on Psychosphere , although the music now sounds outdated. Frank Trojan said in Rock Hard the second album was melodic and progressive, the choir passages were reminiscent of Queen and the melody lines were based on Queensrÿche.

The lyrics of the concept album Turn of the Tide are based on a complex story written by the science fiction fan Olaf Bilic. This takes place in an end-of-time mountain state, which is surrounded by motion scanners and a death zone that make it impossible to leave. The last place of humanity is commanded by a cyborg . A pair of siblings take on the fight against paternalism and surveillance, but when the captured girl falls in love with the cyborg, misunderstandings and complications arise, whereupon her brother only sees the way out of total destruction.

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c GUN - Great Unlimited Noises (Ed.): House of Spirits . Get the spirit. 1994 (laundry slip "for radio and club promotion").
  2. ↑ a b c d Frank Famulla, Claudio Flunkert: House of Spirits . A drum-heavy story. In: Horror Infernal . 55 (October / November), 1994, pp. 74 .
  3. ^ Frank Trojan: House of Spirits . Science fiction metal. In: Rock Hard . No. 89 , October 1994, p. 108 .
  4. ^ A b Garry Sharpe-Young : AZ of Thrash Metal . Cherry Red Books, London 2002, ISBN 1-901447-09-X , pp. 230 .
  5. ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: House of Spirits. Allmusic , accessed July 18, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Michael Lorant: House of Spirits . Turn of the tide. In: Metal Hammer . September 1994, p. 54 .
  7. ^ Jürgen Wagner: House of Spirits . Turn of the tide. In: Feedback . October 1994, p. 56 (authorship not clear).
  8. ↑ a b Jens Reimnitz: House of Spirits . A new beginning. In: Rock City . 6 (October / November), 1994, interview, p. 8 .
  9. ↑ Michael Fuchs-Gamböck: House of Spirits . Psychosphere. In: Metal Hammer . April 1999, p. 80 .
  10. ^ Frank Trojan: House of Sprits . Psychosphere. In: Rock Hard . No. 143 , April 1999, p. 94 .