House Of Spirits

In Dortmund, Germany, House of Spirits came together during 1994 when Olaf Bilic, formerly the vocalist for Jester's March, joined forces with that band’s ex-bassist Martin Hirsch. Guitarist Uwe Baltrusch, late of Mekong Delta, and seasoned drummer Jörg Michael—whose résumé already included Rage, Stratovarius, Running Wild, and others—rounded out the lineup. Later the same year the quartet issued its debut album, Turn of the Tide, which met with scant commercial traction at the time yet eventually earned esteem among progressive-metal listeners as a landmark recording, recalling Queensrÿche at the height of its Operation: Mindcrime period. Tension with both management and the band’s label, Gun Records, together with Baltrusch’s exit, prompted the group’s breakup in 1996. When an earlier demo later reached the German offices of Century Media, the members were encouraged to reactivate House of Spirits, this time with Benjamin Schrippritt assuming guitar duties, and they completed a second, comparatively less celebrated album, Psychosphere, in 1999.