VISIONS OF ATLANTIS Vocalist Was Impressed With Bandmates' 'Creative Energy'

Morley Seaver of CausticTruths.com recently conducted an interview with the Minnesota-based vocalist Melissa Ferlaak, who has been a member of the Austrian symphonic metal band VISIONS OF ATLANTIS for the past few years.

All the songs are definitely very personal," Ferlaak states about the group's latest release, "Trinity". "We kinda shifted the direction as far as not doing the mythological side of you know, the ocean and all that. We took a sort of conscious effort to use water more as a metaphor than something literal. So you know, we use water as like describing emotions or tied with these personal events. We still wanted to kinda keep the theme of VISIONS OF ATLANTIS that they had but move the theme in a different direction kind of thing. And with three new members coming from different backgrounds, we wanted to give everybody something very personal that would be part of all of us."

Ferlaak admits to being surprised at the level of musicianship when she joined the band, along with how quickly the band became like family. "I'm still in Minnesota and how we worked it out last year is that I would come in a week before a performance and practice and the guys had everything down," she explains. "It was very tight already and it really only took a couple of practices before we got it all together. I think that's what really stood out a lot and just the creative energy from everybody. It was a different experience for me. Everybody was so open to ideas. For instance Wolfgang (Koch) wrote a song and was like, 'Okay, what do you want to change? What fits you more?' And that really took me aback a little in a very good way. After my first time over there, we all felt like we had known and worked with each other for years because it was so comfortable. It was just like the guys down the street that I grew up with."