Elis "Catharsis (CD+DVD, Limited Edition Digipak, Germany, Napalm Records, NPR 275/NPRDVD013)"

Catharsis is the fourth and final studio album by Elis, released on 27 November 2009 by Napalm Records. It is the first and only album with Sandra Schleret (ex-Dreams of Sanity, Siegfried) as their new lead singer after Sabine Dünser's death; the band released in early 2007 the MCD "Show Me The Way".

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. 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 Napalm Records, being the first full release with new singer Sandra Schleret, known from Dreams of Sanity and Siegfried. It contains hard and quick tracks, but is nevertheless emotional.

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

Tracklist:

Disc 1 (CD)

1. Core of Life 04:08   
2. Twinkling Shadow 04:25   
3. Warrior's Tale 06:05   
4. Des Lebens Traum - Des Traumes Leben 04:06   
5. I Come Undone (Jennifer Rush cover) 04:25
6. Firefly 04:25
7. Morning Star 04:17   
8. Das kleine Ungeheuer 03:53
9. Mother's Fire 04:02   
10. Rainbow 04:10   
11. The Dark Bridge 04:56  
12. Ghost of the Past 05:29  
13. No Hero 03:20

Time:  57:41  

Disc 2 (DVD) - Live at the Female Metal Voices Festival 2007

1. Tales from Heaven or Hell 04:09   
2. Die Zeit 03:53
3. Show Me the Way 04:33  
4. Phoenix from the Ashes 04:33  
5. Der letzte Tag 04:46
6. Lost Soul 05:24  
7. A New Decade 03:49   
8. Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath cover) 05:46   

Time:  36:53  

Release dates:

November 25 - Finland, Spain

November 27 - Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, Italy

November 30 - Rest of Europe

December 15 - USA

January 12 - Canada

The album is dedicated to Sabine Dünser.

All music written by Pete Streit, except 5 written by Morrie Elliot Brown and Ellen Shipley, 7 and 8 written by Maximilian Näscher and track 10 written bei Simone Dyllong and Maximilian Näscher.

"Des Lebens Traum - Des Traumes Leben" dedicated to Sabine Dünser. 

Make up by Sylvia Hähle.

Recording information:

- Recorded, eginnered, mixed and mastered at Mastersound Studio, Steinheim, Germany in 2008/2009 (www.mastersoundstudio.de).

- Programming by Elis.