Xandria

Xandria entered Germany’s mainstream music scene in 2004 via their sophomore release Ravenheart. Although some questioned whether the symphonic/goth metal outfit qualified as authentic metal, the group built a substantial domestic audience and expanded its reach abroad, helped by a taste for exotic and Middle Eastern-inflected material together with English-language lyrics. The ensemble formed in Bielefeld in 1997, its original lineup consisting of vocalist and pianist Lisa Middelhauve, guitarists Marco Heubaum and Philip Restemeier, bassist Nils Middelhauve, and drummer Gerit Lamm. Early recordings included a self-titled demo from 1997 and the follow-up Kill the Sun in 2000. After signing with Drakkar Records, the Sony BMG-affiliated German metal imprint, the band issued its first full-length, also titled Kill the Sun, in 2003. Dirk Riegner produced the sessions, which took place across the winter of 2002–2003; the album entered the German Top 100 and peaked at number 98.

Ravenheart, the 2004 follow-up produced by José Alvarez-Brill during the winter of 2003–2004, became the breakthrough, spawning the Top 100 single “Eversleeping” and climbing to number 36 on the album chart. India, released in 2005 and again helmed by Alvarez-Brill, improved slightly on that position, reaching number 30. The fourth album, Salomé – The Seventh Veil (2006), signaled a stylistic shift; self-produced by guitarist Marco Heubaum, it drew loose thematic inspiration from the New Testament figure Salomé, daughter of Herodias, whose dance is linked to the beheading of John the Baptist. Commercial returns declined and reactions divided. Lisa Middelhauve departed soon afterward, yielding the microphone to Kerstin Bischof, who recorded under the name Lakonia; her tenure lasted less than a year. In 2010 the band recruited German soprano Manuela Kraller, whose first studio outing was 2012’s Neverworld’s End; she exited the following year to pursue solo work. Sacrificium appeared in 2014, introducing Dutch singer Dianne van Giersbergen of Ex Libris and bassist Steven Wussow, the latter replacing Nils Middelhauve who had stepped down in 2012. Theater of Dimensions, the seventh studio album, surfaced in 2017.