Vanden Plas

Vanden Plas, a German progressive metal group whose membership has remained fixed since their formation in 1986, fuse inventive progressive-rock elements with metallic force and the kinetic energy of theatrical presentation in their concerts. Following their 1994 introduction via Colour Temple, the band delivered a succession of ever more expansive records such as the double albums Chronicles of the Immortals in 2014 and The Ghost Xperiment in 2019, both relying on virtuoso execution, layered arrangements, and Andy Kuntz’s operatic delivery to accentuate their detailed storylines.

Stephen Lill plays guitars, Torsten Reichert handles bass, Andreas Lill occupies the drum chair, Andy Kuntz sings, and Günter Werno supplies keyboards. During the 1990s Vanden Plas issued numerous singles plus three full-length albums and an EP whose growing adventurousness and originality steadily enlarged their European following. Their debut Colour Temple, self-produced and released in 1994, presented a direct metal approach spotlighting Lill’s guitar work; subsequent reissues on two further labels expanded visibility and yielded moderate sales.

The EP AcCult took an entirely acoustic route and included four striking covers—Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” and Marillion’s “Kayleigh” among them—earning critical acclaim that emboldened further invention on the 1997 album The God Thing. That record entered prog-metal territory, pairing expansive guitar arcs from Lill with heavily orchestrated passages while revealing a pronounced Dream Theater influence. Far Off Grace followed in 1999 on Inside Out Music America in the United States and preceded the mid-priced live set Spirit of Live in 2000.

Beyond Daylight surfaced in 2002, documenting the ensemble’s advance toward more experimental and technically demanding territory. The same year several members joined Pink Cream 69 and Silent Force to create the rock opera Missa Mercuria. In 2003 Kuntz assembled Abydos to record the solo album The Little Boy’s Heavy Metal Shadow Opera About the Inhabitants of His Diary, then assumed the role of Judas in a touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Christ 0, a 2006 concept album rooted in Alexander Dumas’ novel The Count of Monte Cristo, became the band’s breakthrough across Europe and Japan; two years of touring led to a full stage musical adaptation in 2008. The Seraphic Clockwork, another concept recording issued by Frontiers in 2010, centers on a protagonist in sixteenth-century Rome whose vision binds him through an enchantment to an Old Testament prophecy, forcing a return to Jerusalem in 33 AD to meet his ordained fate.

After extensive touring the band remained silent in the studio for four years while developing a project larger than anything prior. Their 2014 return opened a multi-album cycle with Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld (Path 1), drawn from Wolfgang Hohlbein’s book series (Hohlbein contributed some lyrics) and regarded by many European critics as one of the year’s premier prog-metal releases; the narrative follows a vampire’s search for concealed European origins, drawing on Greek, Germanic, and Norse myths. Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld, Pt. 2 appeared in fall 2015, followed in 2017 by the concert album Seraphic Liveworks. The Ghost Xperiment: Awakening arrived in 2019 as the first half of a two-part paranormal-themed concept work whose conclusion came the next year with The Ghost Xperiment: Illumination.