Review: Visions of Atlantis – Armada Live Over Europe

Napalm Records (July 4^th, 2025) 

Reviewer – Jason Hopper

Visions of Atlantis are in the middle of a very successful tour supporting their latest album ‘Pirates II – Armada‘. To celebrate this tour and give fans who cannot attend a chance to hear the band live, VOA are releasing ‘Armada Live Over Europe‘.

Having never heard the band prior to 2022, I had the opportunity to review their latest release at the time, ‘Pirates‘ (review here). I enjoyed that album so much I checked out the band on tour in 2023 and discovered a bunch of songs from their old catalog that have since become favorites.  ‘Pirates II – Armada‘ was a worthy follow up to that album and has gone on to become the band’s most successful album to date.

While I do love live albums, I find certain criteria must be met for me to truly enjoy the album.  All too often, studio tinkering makes live albums sound so clear and remove so much of the audience involvement that it comes across as just the band playing live in the studio. I want to hear the audience singing the backgrounds and I don’t want every note or vocal to be perfect. 

You certainly get some of that here and the album brought me back to the time I saw the band live, which is exactly what should happen when listening to a live recording. I’m glad to hear some tracks on here that are favorites of mine from their last two albums. ‘Master the Hurricane’, ‘Hellfire’, ‘Clocks’, and ‘Where the Sky and Ocean Blend’ sound terrific in a live setting. Songs that did not resonate with me on the album, like ‘The Dead of the Sea’, have a more powerful refinement in a live capacity and have become a favorite of mine.

As good as this performance is, I question the appeal this will have to longtime fans for two reasons. First, this is the band’s fourth live album in six years, with the last one being released just a little over two years ago. That live album – ‘Pirates Over Wacken‘ – contains six songs that are part of this collection.

Second, while the band has a vast catalogue of songs from ten studio albums, eighteen of the nineteen tracks here focus on their last two albums, with all but one track from ‘Pirates II – Armada‘ being performed. While they have other live albums with older content, this is basically their latest album featured in a live setting with some additional songs added from their last album. Why is ‘Heroes of the Dawn’ even featured here? That is the sole song that is not part of their Pirates saga.

These songs were recorded over various shows throughout their European tour, so it’s not as if this was a one show setlist. To construct a live album that focuses on one and a half albums seems like a bizarre choice and feels like a money grab type release. 

I would rather have a full setlist with songs pulled from various albums and perhaps a few tracks that were not part of previous releases, to entice fans who bought prior albums to check this one out as well. The songs are great, but the variety is not. If you know that going in and do not mind a pieced together live album from various shows, then you will find enjoyment from this collection.

Tracklist:

1. To Those Who Choose to Fight
2. The Land of the Free
3. Monsters
4. Heroes of the Dawn
5. Where the Sky and Ocean Blend
6. Clocks
7. Legion of the Seas
8. Tonight I’m Alive
9. Collide
10. Hellfire
11. The Dead of the Sea
12. Clemi’s Speech
13. Underwater
14. Magic of the Night
15. Pirates Will Return
16. Melancholy Angel
17. Master the Hurricane
18. Tour Farewell
19. Armada

Line-up:

Clémentine Delauney – Vocals
Michele Guaitoli – Vocals
Christian Douscha – Guitars
Herbert Glos – Bass
Thomas Caser – Drums

Web Links:

Official Website

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