ELISADAY hailing from St. Petersburg, Russia were formed in 2013 by members of symphonic/Gothic Metal band LANEWIN after their vocalist Anna Beliva decided to start her solo career. In search for a new vocalist, they found Lyobov Antropova (ex-PESANTE), and since then, the melodic/symphonic Metal band released three EPs. "Auftakt" - a German word meaning kick-off - is an independent release and it has a length of almost 25 minutes.

In principle, ELISADAY are part of the Russian symphonic Metal scene already for almost 15 years. They released two full-length albums as LANEWIN and continued with the same concept as ELISADAY. While ELISADAY delivered solid symphonic Metal with their first two EPs, the conception has been reworked and the sound today offers more bombastic and cinematic features. Consequently, "Auftakt" kicks-off with "Inner War", a song with dominating exuberant orchestral arrangements. The guitar riffing as well as bass lines and drumming are pretty much in the background. The overarching element, however, is the vocal contribution of Lyobov Antropova which go head-to-head with the symphonic sound. The vocals are very diverse including a few Rock vibes, but being mostly in the high soprano range. Highlights of "Inner War" are the string parts and the subsequent lead guitar solo that fits perfectly into the symphonic environment. "Inner War" is the official video and the YouTube link is given below.

"Fire Or Ice" starts with a short piano part followed by the brass. The powerful guitar riffing is here more dominant and drives the track forward. The tempo of the song is measured with bombastic parts during the chorus parts and quiet string parts during the verse parts. Highlight is the angelic voice of Lyobov Antropova. She has an outstanding performance by keeping the song together. "Poison Ring" has direct and heavy guitar riffing and the song has plenty of oriental vibes. Although the overall theme is classical oriental, the textures are relatively complex, and the orchestra dominates in particular the middle part of the track.

The highlight of "Auftakt" is the 10 minutes track "Hear Me" and it starts with an extended orchestral part which could be the soundtrack of any movie. At some point, the guitars, bass, and drums join in, and eventually the vocals as well. The sound of "Hear Me" is bombastic when all the instruments contribute. "Hear Me" is in principle a little opera of its own in three acts. While the first act is the orchestral driven epic sound with the female vocals, the sound of act two is dark and grim with growling male vocals added to the mix. The growls are at the medium end of the guttural range, and they fit very well to the clean female vocals. Both vocalists complement each other very well. As the song progresses, the sound becomes more and more bombastic while maintaining the darkness. Act three starts quiet with a piano intro and clean male vocals. Lyobov Antropova soon joins in and both vocalists perform an amazing duet. Eventually, all instruments join into an epic finale.

"Auftakt" is not just another symphonic Metal release, "Auftakt" is much more than that. It is a perfect symbiosis of bombastic orchestral sound enriched with cinematic elements and modern Metal compositions while everything is kept together by an outstanding vocalist. Lyobov Antropova's vocals are the highlight of the EP. The orchestral arrangements are also of very high quality. The songwriting is very mature, however, a better balance between orchestra and the Metal instruments would have been desirable. The EP is very well produced. ELISADAY have shown that they have a lot of quality and symphonic Metal fans will surely love "Auftakt" and hope that ELISADAY will release a full-length album soon.