Visions of Atlantis is an Austrian symphonic metal band from Styria. Fascinated by the myth of Atlantis, Werner Fiedler, Thomas Caser, Christian Stani, and Chris Kamper decided in August 2000 to work out a concept inspired by the secret of Atlantis. Late in summer mezzo-soprano Nicole Bogner joined the project, and this was the birth of Visions of Atlantis. A first demo, Morning in Atlantis was released in 2000. In 2001 they signed with TTS Media Music/Black Arrow Productions, and in 2002 their first album, Eternal Endless Infinity was released. In 2003, the band saw some changes in line-up, replacing Christian Stani with Mario Plank and Chris Kamper with Miro Holly.
Now with Napalm Records, which released the band’s second studio effort Cast Away worldwide in November 2004. To mark the release, Visions of Atlantis produced their first official music video to the track “Lost”, which received significant airplay on VIVA and MTV, and made it possible for the band to present the album. The song “Lemuria” from the album was used by the organizer of the 2011 World Athletics Championship in Daegu (Kor) as beginning of the medal ceremonies. In early 2005, Visions of Atlantis toured across Europe. In late 2005, Bogner left the band due to commitments elsewhere.
After Nicole left the band, she was replaced by American soprano singer Melissa Ferlaak and Wolfgang Koch replaced Werner Fiedler. In 2006, Martin Harb, who already played with VoA on their tour in Mexico in 2003, replaced Miro Holly. In May 2007, VoA released their 3rd album Trinity, recorded at Bavarian Dreamscape Studio. The following autumn brought Visions of Atlantis to the United States, where the band toured together with Epica for 6 weeks. Upon returning, the band went through changes in the line-up. In November 2007, a message was posted on the official VoA website saying that Melissa Ferlaak and Wolfgang Koch had left the band, both citing personal reasons. Following this Visions of Atlantis announced a few days later that their ex guitarist, Werner Fiedler, had rejoined the band.
In December 2010, VoA announced the new title of their 4th studio album Delta which was released in February 2011 worldwide. In August 2011, the band announced the title of their first EP Maria Magdalena. It was released on 21 October 2011. In December 2013, Visions of Atlantis announced on their Facebook page that most of the line-up was parting ways, leaving the only remaining and founding member Thomas Caser on drums. This decision was mostly because of a desire from the parting members to play their own style of music, whilst the band was orientating to go back to its classic style. Thus, it welcomed back some of its old members: Werner Fiedler (guitars), Chris Kamper (synths), and Michael Koren (bass). Clementine Delauney and Siegfried Samer were also recruited. Michael Koren was replaced by Herbert Glos on bass in late 2017, and Werner Fiedler by Christian Douscha at the same time. Their new album The Deep & the Dark was released in February 2018.
After extensive tours with Serenity and Kamelot as well as several festival shows in 2018, the band released their first live album The Deep & the Dark Live @ Symphonic Metal Nights in February 2019, which featured new male lead singer Michele Guaitoli sharing lead vocal duty with Siegfried Samer, the former having permanently replaced the latter at the end of the Symphonic Metal Nights IV tour in late 2018. The band then announced in July 2019 that their seventh album Wanderers would be released in August via Napalm Records. The album again featured Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli sharing lead vocal duties.
During the pandemic in 2020, Visions of Atlantis released their first live DVD / Blu-ray with the title A Symphonic Journey To Remember. The show was recorded at Bang-Your-Head festival in Germany back in 2019 together with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Prague. In May 2022 their eighth album Pirates was released. With more orchestral arrangements and choirs, the band not only fascinated the fans but also received a great response from the press.
