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New Review of Crusade 1212 from Background Magazine

 

In 2008 the German outfit Dorian Opera released their debut album No Secrets. The album showed a band that was able to produce fantastic prog metal in the vein of Dream Theater, Shadow Gallery and Symphony X. In the interview I had with keyboardist Andrew Roussak (see interview) in 2010, he already told me about their second album Crusade 1212 that has now been released recently. Roussak explained that it would become a thematic album and not just a collection of songs like No Secrets. The new album deals with the so-called Children's Crusade, a medieval historical event or legend that is believed to have taken place in the year 1212. However, there's still no historical consensus about it, because the movement was neither supported by the church, nor by the nobility and the available historical sources are rather poor.

According to the traditional version, thousands of children from France and Germany, led by two self-proclaimed prophets, tried to reach the Holy Land in order to win back Jerusalem from the Muslims. They wanted to do this by peaceful means and without the use of weapons, but most of them had frozen to death while crossing the Alps. The others were sold to slavery by two merchants from Marseilles. The dramatic story is told from the perspective of two participants, a male and a female. So, for this huge concept they asked Steven The Axe (Solemmity) and Alexandra Goess to sing the story line.

The album opens with a fantastic instrumental piece. On Ouverture 1212 it's clear that all musicians master their instruments. Joe Eisenburger (bass), Harry Reischmann (drums), Oliver Weislogel (guitar) and Andrew Roussak create music that can best be labeled as very aggressive power metal. At the same time they provide for a delicate progressive rock sound. The overture turns into a fabulous prog hymn, especially when Roussak plays on the grand piano and Weislogel performs some melodic parts on the electric guitar. However, as soon as Steven The Axe takes the lead on Soldier Of Fortune I realized that his voice doesn't suit the music. His way of singing is too theatrical and made me think about the Italian lead singers that sing the same kind of Hollywood metal style. His German accent doesn't provide the music with bonus points either. Thank goodness, the song is saved by the fantastic playing of Roussak and Weislogel and luckily the female vocals by Alexandra Goess sound very professional lifting the music to a higher level.

Throughout the album the male vocals seem to be the weakest part, although the compositions are just marvellous containing excellent solos on the guitar and the keyboards. The classical background of Andrew Roussak can be heard on almost all tracks. It's just amazing to hear him playing the piano, organ and synthesizers. In addition Oliver Weislogel is not only a guitarist who plays nasty metal parts on his instrument, he also masters and enjoys playing the acoustic guitar, for example on Two Hearts. I think the second instrumental piece Crusade is the musical highlight on the album. Here, everything falls in place. The synthesizer and electric guitar solos are really outstanding. Especially in the second part when the drum machine joins in, the track gets very atmospheric. The entire musical concept of Crusade 1212 has been greatly created and this applies for the CD-package as well. The fantasy cover looks stunning, the booklet contains all the lyrics, the story line is excellently explained and all the band members are very well photographed. 

In comparison to the debut, Dorian Opera made a major step forward with Crusade 1212. Without doubt the band equals the best international acts that perform the same kind of prog metal. It would be a good idea if bands as Dream Theater, Symphony X or Kamelot take them on tour as a support act, so more people will get familiar with the fabulous music of Dorian Opera. However, even albums containing strong compositions sometimes suffer from elements that could have been done better. In this case I refer to the male lead vocals. I didn't enjoy them on this disc, but even a band as Dream Theater has these problems. Quite often lead singer James LaBrie gets negative remarks while the other musicians are acclaimed for their outstanding musicianship. In a way the same applies for Crusade 1212 and it surely had some effect on my final judgment. It still gets a high rating, but it could have been higher, if only...

****- Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)

New review online - Melodic Hard Rock Today , Norway:

Dorian Opera is a progressive metal band from South Germany formed in 2007 by 4 professional musicians. Oliver Weislogel ( guitar ), Joe Eisenburger ( bass, vocals ) , Andrew Roussak( keyboards, backing vocals ) and Harry Reischmann ( drums ) had already an experience of playing together in various bands in Baden- Wuerttemberg, South Germany . The band name of DORIAN OPERA was chosen to underline a link between classical and rock music (Dorian is a scale mostly often used in rock compositions ). Their debut CD No Secrets was released in June, 2008 by a progressive rock label called MALS in Russia. The second studio album CRUSADE 1212 was released in March 2011. Crusade 1212 is a concept album relating to the Children's Crusade of 1212. It tells the story of a young boy who was visited by Jesus Christ. He then began to gather children, as many as 30,000, and lead them to the Holy Land. Unfortunately, while their jorney many of the children were ravaged by exhaustion, starvation, slavery and one disaster after another. The protagonist of the story is Jan, born in North Germany and destined to become leader of the Crusade. It is an epic story of love, hard times and tragedy.

This band Dorian Opera comes with their second production Crusade 1212 more or less in the same concept we can see lately in some symphonic metal bands lately in the european scene, which is, concept albums that tells about a particular story, generally speaking an epic story. However, Dorian Opera is a progressive metal band in which performances we can find some symphonic metal and power metal elements. This band has two singers (female-male) but their are not operatic singers. They are two singers in a popular style whose voices and harmonies contrasts with the operatical elements in the music. According to my point of view, she is very calm and in control of the despair you can feel at certain point of the album, and he has a great warm voice that adds drama to the scene. Together they don't complement themselves but each one has their own vocal pattern. And as I said before, their popular style can smoothes the strength in the performances and sometimes you may think of some pop rock traces. So I warn you guys this can sound a little different from what we are used to. It is a very particular combination of styles and elements which deserve a chance of being listened to and appreciated as it comes. Throughout the whole album, you can find changes in tempo, chords and melodies that speak about their progressive style. Bars and setbacks are also techniques used by these excellent musicians. The sounds of the guitar all along the album are simply awesome and I enjoyed very much the keyboards arrangements as well as the guitar solos. In conclusion, the music with all the instruments and production are very very good. I recommend this album, specially to all those that enjoy progressive metal with some symphonic elements and like trying new things and innovation. Check them out!!  

96/100 Reviewed by Maria

DORIAN OPERA..'CRUSADE 1212'

(Soleminity Music) Reviewed 17th October 2011 by Ravenheart Music

This German progressive rock/metal band was founded by four full time musicians in 2007, releasing 'No Secrets' in 2008. Their second album is based on the Children's Crusade of 1212 in which thousands of children departed for Jerusalem, only for the mission to end in disaster. It is shrouded in myth and legend, there was a French 14 yr old shepherd called Stephen who, with a following of 30,000 people, went to St. Denis (just north of Paris) with a letter from Jesus for King Philip II (Augustus) in 1212, traditionally they then went on Crusade, but there is no contemporary record of them going.

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Glück im Unglück bei Dorian Operas CD  Release Party für Crusade 1212

 

Wir alle haben uns sehr auf unser erstes gemeinsames Konzert in der neuen Besetzung gefreut und für einen Moment sollte es so aussehen als ob dieses nie stattfinden würde. Ein unerwarteter Anruf am Vortag unseres lang geplanten Gigs teilte uns mit dass der Wirt der Location in der wir spielen wollten trotz 6 Wochen vorher gelieferter Plakate auf denen gross Ort, Zeit und Kontakt verzeichnet war von nichts wisse und für den Abend des 9.9. eine Geburtstagsgesellschaft eingeladen habe. Der Erste schrecklich triste Gedanke war die Veranstaltung abzusagen, doch was war mit den Gästen die zugesagt haben und von weit her angereist kamen? Der Gig musste laufen – nur wie!?

Guter Rat war teuer und wir mussten innerhalb von ein paar Stunden alles organisieren wofür man unter normalen Umständen mindestens eine Woche bräuchte.

Es wäre auch nie möglich gewesen wenn uns nicht viele hilfsbereite und grosszügige Menschen geholfen hätten und an dieser Stelle wollen wir diesen unseren herzlichsten und tiefsten Dank aussprechen.

Wir beginnen mit dem Wirt der sich sofort bereit erklärt hat uns sein Lokal zur Verfügung zu stellen und sogar hilfreich bei der Organisation und Vorbereitung der Lokation eingegriffen hat. Ein ganz ganz herzliches Dankeschön an Oscar vom „Oscars“ Irish Pub in Oberachern, ohne den wir den Gig wirklich hätten absagen müssen. Trotz der widrigen Umstände hat er uns freundlich zur Seite gestanden und wir müssen ehrlich sagen einen wirklich tollen Abend verbracht zu haben. Der Pub hat eine wunderbare Atmosphäre eine grosse Auswahl an Unterhaltungsmöglichkeiten wie z.B. eine Bowlingbahn und wir können ihn nur wärmstens weiterempfehlen!

Desweiteren auch ein ganz herzlicher Dank an Alexander Doll von der Lichtmischerei für sein kurzfristiges Einspringen. Unsere Anweisung am Telefon beschränkte sich auf „irgendwas das blinkt“ und er überraschte uns mit einer wunderbar abgestimmten Beleuchtung die perfekt zu unserer Show passte. Alex, vielen, vielen Dank!

 

Auch ein ganz dickes fettes Dankeschön an Witchhouse für die tatkräftige Unterstützung und für die PA. Jungs, vielen, vielen Dank!! Das war ein klasse Abend!

 

Last but not least möchte ich auch dem Team von Siggi Braun für die liebevolle Unterstützung und die  fantastischen und mit Liebe und Können gefertigten Gitarren, jede Menge klasse Fotos und nicht zuletzt für eine Menge Spass an diesem Abend danken.

Und noch eine großartige Review, diesmal als Video von Liveprog

 

 

Prognaut

Three years after their debut album No Secrets, Germany’s Dorian Opera released a new album in 2011 entitled Crusade1212. The story is basically a concept album inspired by the historical Children's crusade. Musically they’re still is the same area as they were on their debut. The only difference this time around is they have two new singers, a male (Sven The Axe) and a female (Alexandra Goess). Right off I have to say I would have liked to have heard Alexandra more. Honestly, my reason is that Sven’s style of vocals takes them more towards Dream Theater territory. On the plus side, combination of vocals gives a versatility that most bands in the prog-metal genre don’t have.

The rest of the band is from the debut and features a fantastic group of musicians especially the keyboardist, Andrew Roussak and guitarist, Oliver Weislogel. The rhythm section of Joe Eisenburger (bass) and Harry Reischmanns (drums) is probably the tightest I’ve heard in a long while. To my ears, this album is a vast step forward for the band while it’s still on the outer edges of typical prog-metal, really needs something more, maybe a non traditional instrument in this genre.

Since this is a concept album, I recommend setting aside an hour of your leisure time to soak up the story and music. I think once you do, you’ll become a fan of Dorian Opera. I think the best is yet to come but Crusade 1212 is a very solid prog-metal band that I would recommend strongly.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on May 30th, 2011

Sea of tranquility Review by Jon Neudorf

 

German progressive metal band Dorian Opera formed in 2007 and released their debut No Secrets in 2008. It is early in 2011 but surely their brand new album Crusade 1212 will make many 'best of' lists come the end of the year. This is a great band and their latest album proves it without a doubt.  In the band are Sven The Axe (vocals), Oli Weislogel (guitars), Joe Eisenburger (bass) , Andrew Roussak (keyboards) and Harry Reischmann (drums) along with guest vocalist Alexandra Goess.

Crusade 1212 is a concept album relating to the Children's Crusade of 1212. The story tells of a young boy in either France or Germany who was visited by Jesus Christ. He then began to gather children, as many as 30,000, and lead them to the Holy Land. Unfortunately, most did not get to their destination as it proved to be a very difficult journey. The children were ravaged by exhaustion, starvation, slavery and one disaster after another. The protagonist of the story is Jan, born in North Germany and destined to become leader of the Crusade. It is an epic story of love, hardship and tragedy and one the band tells vividly with their words and ever so dramatic music. It is an epic concept with grandiose music to match.

The band mixes power, progressive and symphonic metal and wraps it up in an awesome display of musicianship and prowess. This is an intense listen and if you are looking for comparisons with other bands Symphony X and Dream Theater would be your best bet but Dorian Opera have a unique sound that is all their own. If you enjoy solos you really need to listen to 1212. Great guitar and keyboard solos abound making this one of the most adventurous albums I have heard in a while without sounding too overwrought with pretention. Every note seems to fit perfectly within the concept and scope of the music. Just listen to the staccato rhythms, soaring lead guitar and wonderful organ in "Follow Your Heart" to hear what I am talking about. The band switches from power metal and neo classical shredding to power ballad style with ease and everything flows beautifully.

Other highlights include the dramatic "Ouverture 1212" where an atmospheric backdrop of keys and synths augment soaring lead guitar and the pretty acoustic ballad "Two hearts" with excellent lead vocals by Goess.

The album ends with "So Long" and "Hope", a couple of melodic gems filled with sublime keys, excellent vocals and crystal clear guitar work. I should mention the production is fantastic throughout.

Crusade 1212 is the real deal folks, loaded with great hooks and monumental musicianship. This is some of the finest bombastic metal you are likely to hear. Do yourself a favour and check them out.

 

Crusade 1212 Review by Rocktimes

Crusade 1212 - Review by DPRP

Well 2011 is shaping up to be another good year in the world of prog metal. I was presented with the new Dorian Opera album Crusade 1212 for reviewing. Dorian Opera are a band that consists of five very talented individuals, which includes the very enigmatic keyboardist Andrew Roussak, this being their second album, their first album No Secrets scored a very impressive 7.5 out of 10, missing out being a DPRP recommendation due to some slight naivety in production and lyrical content. This has all been addressed this time around, the production quality is crystal clear and the band have offered an epic piece, that is in the same league as the premiership players of prog metal. For me this album sounds like Dorian Opera have entered the building and come of age.

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Mit “Crusade 1212″ auf Kreuzzug durch die Prog-Gefilden

Hach, endlich wieder was neues von DORIAN OPERA. 2008 bekam schon das Debüt „No Secrets“ in meinen Gehörgängen einen Ehrenplatz. Titel wie „Tell me your lies“, „One of these days“ oder „Dead or alive“ gehören heute noch ab und an in meinen Player und die Playlist. Endlich ist der Nachfolger da.
Mein Dank gilt Andrew Roussak, der auch nach so langer Zeit noch an mich gedacht hat. Freu mich!

War „No Secrets“ vielleicht noch ein wenig unterproduziert war, geht’s auf dem neuen Longplayer „Crusade 1212“ schon vom Opener an in einen vollen Sound über.
Hier wird feinster ProgMetal geboten der mit einigen Power Metal-Elementen bereichert wird aber irgendwie nie die melodische Struktur verliert.
Die Band hat sich was den Bandsound betrifft sich toll weiterentwickelt.

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From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Three years after their very worthwhile debut album No secrets, German prog metal band Dorian Opera have returned with a masterpiece. Crusade 1212 is a fascinating concept album with a tragic opera-like storyline, inspired by the historical Children's crusade. The original four members are still there, augmented with a lead singer (Sven the Axe) and a female guest vocalist (Alexandra Goess). The music falls roughly in the Dream Theater meets Neo Prog range, with considerable instrumental virtuosity, but without noodling for noodling's sake. The extended instrumental passages are all fit for purpose, and in the best prog tradition. weiterlesen

 

 

Das 2. Album der Süddeutschen Prog.-Rock Band DORIAN OPERA -  ” Crusade 1212″ ist fertig.

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Nach dem gelungenen Debüt 2008 von „No Secrets“, wo die Musiker bereits ein enormes Hit-Potential zum Besten gegeben haben, geht dieses Album eine Dimension weiter. Man kann wirklich behaupten dass hier ein unverwechselbarer Stil gefunden wurde. Auch an Mitgliedern ist die Band reicher geworden : Mit „Sven the axe“ - Sänger Songwriter und Produzent von SOLEMNITY hat die Musik ein ausdrucksstarkes und kraftvolles Sprachrohr gefunden. Auch die Rhythem Section hat Zuwachs bekommen: Bassist Wolfgang Fetzer steht den Anderen in Perfektion und Professionalität in nichts nach.

Gitarrist Oliver Weislogel der ebenso  für das Songwriting sowie für die Produktion verantwortlich ist, Schlagzeuger Harry  Reischmann – derzeit unterwegs mit  „GREGORIAN“ und berühmt für seine Feuershow - und Keyboarder Andrew Roussak welcher der Geschichte mit den epischen Texten und ebenso einigen Kompositionen Leben eingehaucht hat, zeigen hier erst was in einem eingespielten Team alles möglich ist. Wem die aussergewöhnliche Qualität der Gitarrensolos und  die sauberen Läufe in „No Secrets“ aufgefallen sind wird von dem Sound der auf „Crusade“ durch Klarheit, Komplexität und Härte glänzt begeistert sein.

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Gitarrenlehrer, Produzent, Komponist und Gitarrist bei „Dorian Opera” und „Donaumusikanten”.