Serenity (Austrian band)
| Serenity | |
|---|---|
 Serenity at the Rockharz Open Air 2018 |
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| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Power metal , symphonic metal |
| founding | 2001 |
| Website | www.serenity-band.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Georg Neuhauser (since 2004) | |
| Christian Hermsdörfer (since 2015) | |
Drums , backing vocals |
Andreas Schipflinger (since 2001) |
| Fabio D'Amore (since 2010) | |
| former members | |
| Matthias "Mazi" Anker (2001-2003) | |
| Stefan Schipflinger (2001-2004) | |
| Thomas Buchberger (2004-2015) | |
| Stefan "Stiefi" Wanker (2001-2004) | |
| Simon Holzknecht (2004-2010) | |
| Mario Hirzinger (2001–2012) | |
| Clémentine Delauney (2013-2015) | |
| Live musicians | |
| Franz-Josef Hauser (since 2013) | |
| Christian Hermsdörfer (2013–2015) | |
| Mario Hirzinger (since 2014) | |
| Natascha Koch (since 2014) | |
| Nik Müller (since 2016) | |
Serenity is a symphonic metal - band from Tyrol , Austria .
history
Serenity was founded in January 2001. Mario Hirzinger, Matthias Anker and Stefan Wanker had already been active together as “McFarmersson” for several years, the Schipflinger brothers joined the rest of this band at the end of 1999, because Matthias Anker left the band alongside drummer Michael Stamey. Inspired by groups such as the British prog rock band Arena , Dream Theater , Savatage but also z. B. Sentenced wrote a few songs, but for a year and a half they only found their listeners in the rehearsal room. With the return of guitarist Matthias Anker at the beginning of 2001, the now complete band was christened Serenity, based on an instrumental piece by Arena. In the same year the first demo recording of Starseed VR was tackled, the CD was released in February 2002.
At the end of 2003, the first cracks in the line-up appeared when Matthias announced his departure. In February 2004 Georg Neuhauser, Thomas Buchberger and Simon Holzknecht, who had been trying to found a metal band for some time, made contact with Mario Hirzinger. There were now concrete plans to form a new band called Mysteria , the second guitarist planned for this project was suddenly no longer available and the actually fixed drummer did not appear for the first rehearsal together and so Andreas Schipflinger stepped in at short notice. Stefan Wanker recognized the great potential of this line-up and made the proposal to merge Serenity and the new band project - he would forego the post of bassist. So they stayed with the old name, which was already established in the area, and only changed their style a little towards melodic-progressive power metal. Stefan Schipflinger left the band soon afterwards due to musical differences with the new line-up. A few months later, on August 2, 2004, the first high point in the band's career followed, an appearance as support by Ronnie James Dio .
In spring 2005 the demo Engraved Within , produced by Tom Buchberger (recording / sound technology) and Jan Vacik (mix / mastering), was released . a. was voted demo of the month in Rock Hard and Metal Hammer . Several offers from record companies were received, but the band didn't like them, which is why they also worked on their first album on their own. The recordings were made in the Munich “Dreamscape Studios” (producer Jan Vacik) and were completed with mix and mastering in the “ Finnvox Studios ” in Helsinki. The orchestral parts were produced in the Czech Republic, the artwork comes from Seth-Design in Athens. During this work, the band was in contact with the Napalm Records label , with which they finally signed in December 2006. In March 2007, Serenity went on tour through German-speaking countries as the opening act for Morgana Lefay and Sacred Steel, including a concert in Rotterdam .
On April 27, 2007 Napalm Records released the debut album Words Untold & Dreams Unlived in Europe (including Russia), on May 8, 2007 also in North America and finally on June 1, 2007 via Rock Empire also in China. In July 2007 the album, which had received good reviews across Europe, was also released in Japan. In August / September of the same year Serenity went on a European tour for two weeks with Threshold , Communic and Machine Men . Another tour, this time with Kamelot , which took the band from London via the Netherlands and France to Spain, took place in September / October 2007.
The second full-length album is called Fallen Sanctuary and was produced from December 2007 to April 2008. Once again, in addition to Tom Buchberger (guitars, pre-production, editing, etc.) from SERENITY, Jan Vacik (Dreamscape Studios) was again heavily involved in the recording process, he took care of the drum and bass recordings, and contributed ideas regarding the song arrangements. Mix and mastering by the great Jakob Hansen. Oliver Philipps, known for his band Everon , is the creative mind behind the orchestral parts, and the vocal recordings with the choirs were arranged by Lanvall von Edenbridge . The cover artwork was by Gustavo Sazes, a Brazilian artist. Between August 27th and September 1st, 2008 the record was released in Europe, the release in the North American countries followed on September 9th.
Another tour followed in the spring of 2009 with the American band Kamelot , which took Serenity across Europe. In the fall of 2009 two more European tours were completed, namely with Edenbridge and later again with the English band Threshold .
In 2010, Simon Holzknecht left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by the Italian bassist Fabio D'Amore (among others Pathosray , Syrayde , Fairyland , Mirrormaze ).
On February 25, 2011, Serenity released the album Death & Legacy in Europe / Japan, followed by USA / CAN on March 15, 2011, via Napalm Records / EDEL Distribution and Marquee Avalon in Japan. The album is based on a historical concept around personalities like Galileo Galilei, Sir Francis Drake, Albrecht Dürer and others. The symphonic concept album was worked on for about 2 years. The production team again consisted of Buchberger, Vacik and Philipps.
In March / April / May 2011 various headliner concerts as well as appearances in the opening act of Epica , Delain & Leaves' Eyes were played all over Europe. Later in the year there was also a participation in the Out Of The Dark Festival Tour across Europe.
In 2012, the band mainly focused on the 2013 album and a few appearances with Delain and as a headliner in Europe. In September 2012 the band was able to perform for the first time in the USA at the ProgPower USA Festival.
In 2013 Serenity went on a headlining tour for the first time to present their fourth album War of Ages . Visions of Atlantis and Souldrinker played special guests for the tour . The tour with a total of ten concerts led through seven countries - although the concert in Pratteln had to be moved from the gallery to the Z7 due to the great response. Before the tour, Clementine Delauney was introduced as a new member of the band in January - she had already made some appearances with the band in 2012, including ProgPower USA . The debut at the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium has been announced for October . On the tour, Franz-Josef Hauser took over the keyboards from Mario Hirzinger, who announced his departure from the band at the end of October 2012.
With the success of the previous year, the headlining tour was continued in spring 2014. In addition to 10 concerts in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, the performance at the Prog Power Metal Fest in Mons (BE) was a highlight of the second tour section. Included are Beyond the Bridge and midriff . For private reasons, Thomas Buchberger was unable to take part in all of the performances. For him, the former VoA guitarist Christian Hermsdörfer came on stage again with Serenity. The rest of the year brought fans more concerts with Delain and Xandria as well as appearances at the Out & Loud Festival (D) and the Masters Of Rock (CZ). The band was nominated at the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards in the Rock / Hard & Heavy category. Tom Buchberger (guitar, songwriting, co-producer) leaves the band for personal reasons.
The year 2015 started with the announcement of some concerts; again together with Delain . At the beginning of February it was confirmed that they were still working on new material and that some changes had to be made due to the open position on the keyboards. The biggest change was a recollection, and so Serenity and Clementine Delauney broke up.
The first only headliner show was at Dark Valentine in Brno, followed by a mini tour with sold out concerts in Cologne and Frankfurt together with Delain . In the second half of the year he will go to Finland for the first time to support Stratovarius as well as appearances at some festivals, including the first edition of Autumn Moon in Hameln. The end of the year began with the production of the fifth album Codex Atlanticus. With this album, Chris Hermsdörfer was introduced as an official band member and thus successor to Thomas Buchberger. In order to promote the album, it will first go on a co-headliner tour with Xandria in February . In March and April the support for Powerwolf continues together with Battle Beast .
In spring 2017 the band was awarded the Amadeus in the Hard & Heavy category.
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- 2002: Starseed VR (demo)
- 2005: Engraved Within (Demo + CD-Rom-Part)
- 2007: Words Untold & Dreams Unlived (Napalm Records)
- 2008: Fallen Sanctuary
- 2011: Death & Legacy
- 2013: War of Ages
- 2016: Codex Atlanticus
- 2017: Lionheart
- 2020: The Last Knight
gallery
- Serenity, line-up at Rockharz Open Air 2018
Singer Georg Neuhauser
Guitarist Nik Müller
Drummer Andreas Schipflinger
Bass player Fabio D'Amore
Web links
- Official website
- Official YouTube channel
- Serenity on MusicBrainz (English)
- Serenity at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chart sources: Austria / Germany / Switzerland