Ember Sea – Live at Sturmfest 2025

The Hanover-based Metal band Ember Sea has released two full-length albums to date. However, nine years have passed since the release of ‘How to Tame a Heart’. During the pandemic, the band released the acoustic album ‘Au Contraire’ (2021). Otherwise, the band’s discography includes one acoustic EP and countless singles, as well as the 2021 live album “Two Stages – Live at Monopol & Wolfsmond”. And that’s likely to remain the case. The band’s comment: “An album isn’t worth it for us. We’ll stay with singles…” It’s a pity, really, as I’m less interested in singles. So it’s pleasing that the second live album, “Live at Sturmfest 2025”, was published in February.

The band from Lower Saxony kick off their 45-minute set with their 2023 single ‘Shine (My Dying Star)’. The set also features two tracks from their 2013 debut album ‘Nova’ (“Storm”, ‘Dreh Dich’) and three from its follow-up, ‘How to Tame a Heart’ (2017). The remaining four songs have (so far) only been released as singles. I really liked the latest single ‘Ahab’ (December 2024). The Mike Oldfield cover ‘Moonlight Shadow’ (September 2021) was also played that evening. Cover versions are a bit of a mixed bag. Especially when you choose such a worldwide hit. But this song works live too. The song “Dreh Dich” in the encore(?) is probably the band’s only German-language track and a fitting finale to get the fans fired up once more. The sound quality is certainly adequate for a live recording. What stood out, however, was the powerful vocals of frontwoman Eva Gerland. And she kept encouraging the fans in front of the stage. The live atmosphere came across well. My longing for a new studio album remains, however.

Ember Sea – Dance of Pan: https://youtu.be/0VEg1QvfIHk?si=KWZMOhLZHq4hJB98