Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Eloy
Label: Artist Station Records
Release: 2017
Length: 62:31
Rating: 4.5/5
The legendary German prog rockers Eloy are back with an excellent concept album called »The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part 1«. Their latest studio effort tells the tragic story of French national heroine Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orléans, who in 1431, at barely nineteen, was burned at the stake by the English, with help from the Roman Catholic Church, on charges of heresy and witchcraft. Her extraordinary life in a bloody period of history, when women under Church rule were worth less than a knight’s horse, and her tragic death in Rouen still fire up the imagination of countless musicians today, especially in progressive rock and metal. Eloy are of course not the first to try to set her life to music, but they’re the first to go about it in such an ambitious way, since this first part of the concept saga will surely be followed by a second.
After the solid comeback album »Visionary« (2009), which for most fans still wasn’t ‘the real deal’, meaning what this legendary band is truly capable of, Eloy have now shifted up into a ‘higher gear’ and finally made another space rock/symphonic rock concept feast that can stand next to their best work from the seventies. The first part of the saga of the ‘Maid of Orléans’, told song by song, covers Joan’s early exploits: from her birth in Domrey and the ‘divine visions’ of this poor peasant girl, to her trip to the French court, where she played a key role in the coronation of the future French king Charles VII, and on to her first victories over the English. As we know from history, her unusual and young life ended far too soon, thanks to the treacherous Burgundians, who sold her to the English even though Charles VII had meant to pay a ransom. The pro-English inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church accused Joan of heresy and had her burned at the stake. Roughly five hundred years later, the Church washed its hands of it by declaring her a saint. Today, when the average Frenchman doesn’t give much of a damn about the Church anymore, Joan is the most beloved French saint and national heroine.
A concept about a young medieval warrior woman who lived through the bloody Hundred Years’ War between France and England seems, at first glance, out of character for Eloy, a band usually tied to science fiction. Just think of the unforgettable musical saga about the fall of Atlantis (»Ocean in »Ocean 2«), though they did already venture into the Middle Ages back in 1975 on their first concept album, »Power and the Passion«. Cult guitarist, singer and producer Frank Bornemann, longtime bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol, both keyboardists, Folberth and Gerlach, and drummer Bodo Schopf lean on female backing vocals more than ever before this time. The role of Joan is ‘played’ by singer Anke Renner, who carries out her mission superbly. She gets almost as much vocal time as Frank, and there’s no shortage of purely instrumental moments either, tastefully balanced between symphonic prog and ‘old school’ space rock. Epic female vocal harmonies are nothing new for Eloy, of course, who have been using them successfully since 1978. Everything the Dutch prog maestro Arjen Anthony Lucassen does these days with his Ayreon, with its parade of guest female singers, Eloy were already doing in the late seventies, so it’s long since been standard practice for them.
The individual songs, from the opener »The Age of the Hundred Years’ War« to the closer »Why?«, are brilliantly linked together and neatly tie in the concept of Joan’s short but turbulent life. The epic symphonic arrangements so typical of classic Eloy are now and then backed by space rock waves of all kinds of synth textures, while Frank’s guitar work often takes center stage. But what adds most to the frequently epic and dramatic mood are the pompous male-female vocal harmonies and the interplay between the two lead voices. It’s hard to pick out the album’s best moments, since all the songs form a self-contained whole and are practically equal in quality. One of the more uncharacteristic experiments is the epic »Chinon«, where we catch Joan being tested for virginity before she can stand in front of the future French king, and which, amid its pastoral moments, includes elements of a medieval madrigal. Fans of the epic side of Eloy will get the most out of the more ‘warlike’ tracks like the pompous epic »The Sword…The Dawning of the Unavoidable«, which, besides mighty symphonic arrangements and sumptuous vocal harmonies, also packs a few prog metal touches, mostly thanks to complex, hard-hitting guitar passages. »Orleans«, woven through with a sacral atmosphere, has a mystical chorus with choir harmonies, while the dark, dramatic »Les Tourelles«, whose lyrics describe a great battle, builds on mighty tempo shifts and complex instrumental, space rock-flavored sections, including an interesting Minimoog solo. The contemplative »Why?«, where doubts about the divine voices and her mission start to stir in Joan, features masterful, deeply melancholic female vocal harmonies from Renner that carry the album to its close.
With »The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part 1«, the first chapter in the story of the legendary Joan of Arc, Eloy have made their first masterpiece of the 21st century, an album that matches their best work from the ‘golden’ seventies of the last century. Frank Bornemann, who once again delivered a superb production too, and his crew have, after a long time, topped fans’ expectations again and made us happy with a record that’s among the top contenders for best prog rock album of 2017. Frank has meanwhile promised to give it everything he’s got to make the second part of »The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre« at least as good.
Lineup
Fank Bornemann – vocals, guitar
Hannes Folberth – keyboards
Michael Gerlach – keyboards
Klaus-Peter Matziol – bass guitar
Bodo Schopf – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Anke Renner – vocals
Volker Kuinke – recorder
Production
Frank Bornemann
Track List
1. The Age of the Hundred Years’ War
2. Domremy on the 6th of January 1412
3. Early Signs … from a Longed for Miracle
4. Autumn 1428 at Home
5. The Call
6. Vaucouleurs
7. The Ride by Night… Towards the Predestined Fate
8. Chinon
9. The Prophecy
10. The Sword
11. Orléans
12. Les Tourelles
13. Why?
