The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part I

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
ArtRock
Background Magazine
Get Ready to Rock!
Hellfire	Favorable
Musik Reviews
PowerMetal.de
progVisions
Progwereld	Favorable
Rock Hard
Rocking.gr	Favorable
Rockmachine	Unfavorable
Sea of Tranquility

The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part I is the eighteenth studio album by German rock band Eloy, released in 2017.

It is the first part of a rock opera about the life of Jeanne d'Arc, the realization of which had been a wish of frontman Frank Bornemann's since the 1990s. The second and final part of the concept was released in 2019.

Bornemann described the research that led to the rock opera's realization as follows: "I actually really did invest a lot of time in getting this work off the ground. There were many conversations with qualified historians to get the details of her story and I read countless works of literature, even the documents on the legal process in order to get a profound knowledge. Naturally, I visited all the locations and places of significance to her story -and that really inspired me and gave me deep insight into the events, which can't be gained from reading books alone."

Practical proof that Bornemann's interest in Jeanne d'Arc dates back to the 90s is that she had already appeared in Eloy's music twice during that decade: firstly in Destination with the song "Jeanne d'Arc", and secondly in The Tides Return Forever, where the song "Company of Angels" is dedicated to her.

Track listing

All lyrics and music by Frank Bornemann.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Age of the Hundred Years' War"	4:17
2.	"Domremy on 6 January 1412"	1:48
3.	"Early Signs... from a Longed for Miracle"	4:13
4.	"Autumn 1428 at Home"	0:55
5.	"The Call"	5:51
6.	"Vaucouleurs"	4:35
7.	"The Ride by Night... Towards the Predestined Fate" (Instrumental)	3:30
8.	"Chinon"	9:46
9.	"The Prophecy"	4:40
10.	"The Sword"	5:54
11.	"Orléans"	4:26
12.	"Les Tourelles"	7:24
13.	"Why?"	5:11

Personnel

All information according to the album's liner notes, numbers in parentheses indicate specific tracks.

Eloy

Frank Bornemann: vocals, guitar, additional keyboards
Klaus-Peter Matziol: bass
Michael Gerlach: keyboards
Hannes Folberth: keyboards
Kristof Hinz: drums, percussion

Guest musicians

Julian Göke: bass, vocals (1)
Isgaard Marke: vocals (9)
Jessy Martens: vocals (13)
Anke Renner: backing vocals (3, 5, 6, 11)
Alexandra Seubert: backing vocals (3, 9, 11)
Simon Moskon: backing vocals (3, 9)
Sven-Arne Zinnke: backing vocals (5)
Lisa Laage-Smidt: backing vocals (6)
Simon Moskon: backing vocals (8)
The Children's Choir of the Marktkirche Hannover: chorus vocals (9)
Lisa Laage-Smidt: choir director (9)
Jens Lück: keyboards (1, 5)
Niklas Fischer: keyboards (3, 8)
Artur Kühfuß: keyboards (5, 8)
Christoph Van Hal: strings (1, 10)
Volker Kuinke: recorder and flute (3, 6, 8, 10)
Johannes Berger: bass viol (9)
Kim Hutchinson: spoken voice (2)
Kai Ritter: spoken voice (2, 4)
Alice Merton: spoken voice (5, 6, 8)
Bick Buttchereit: spoken voice (8)
Eric Pulverich: spoken voice (8)
Leon Kaack: spoken voice (8)
Steve Mann: spoken voice (8)

Production

Frank Bornemann: production, mixing
Hans-Jörg Maucksch: mastering
Niklas Fisher: engineering, mixing
Martin Steidl: engineering, additional mixing
Marten Berger: engineering
Helge Preuss: engineering
Mirko Hofmann: engineering
Michael Gerlach: engineering
Oliver Wiebe: engineering
Jens Luekc: additional recordings

Artwork

Michael Narten: graphic design

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	22
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	46

References

"Reincarnation on Stage – Eloy". Amazon Music. Amazon. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
"Reincarnation on Stage – Eloy". Apple Music. Apple Inc. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
^ Schiffmann, Andreas. "Eloy: The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre (Review)". musikreviews.de (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
^ Backes, Björn. "ELOY – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre – Part 1". powermetal.de (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Horyszny, Paweł (1 September 2017). "Eloy — The Vision, The Sword and the Pyre, Part I". ArtRock.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
van Os, Erik. "Eloy – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre (Part 1)". Background Magazine. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Geesin, Joe (17 August 2017). "Album review: ELOY – The Vision, The Sword and The Pyre (Part 1)". Get Ready to Rock!. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
Sieger, Gernot. "Eloy – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre (Part 1)". Hellfire-Magazin (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Fledderus, Douwe (September 2017). "Eloy – The Vision, The Sword and The Pyre (Part 1) – 2017". progVisions. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
Goossensen, Maarten. "Eloy – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre". Progwereld.org (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
"ELOY – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre – Part I". Rock Hard (in German). Holger Stratmann. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Koukas, Spyros (10 January 2018). "Eloy – The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre (Part I)". Rocking.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Richardos, Alexandros. "ΑΚΟΥΓΟΝΤΑΣ ΤΟ ΚΑΙΝΟΥΡΓΙΟ ΑΛΜΠΟΥΜ ΤΩΝ ELOY". Rockmachine (in Greek). Retrieved 3 September 2024.
Pardo, Pete (20 January 2018). "Eloy: The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre (Part 1)". Sea of Tranquility. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
"Eloy | MIG". Mig. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
Fatouros, Dimitrios (21 October 2019). "Home / Interviews / Eloy". Grande Rock. Retrieved 9 September 2024. part 2 of "The Vision the Sword and the Pyre" completes the work
Buzzetta, Tomm. "Interviews 2: Frank Bornemann". Creative Tech Nerds. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
Bornemann, Frank (August 2023). "Eloy – Biography". German Rock e.V. (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2024.
"Offiziellecharts.de – Eloy – The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part I" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
"Swisscharts.com – Eloy – The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part I". Hung Medien.

External links

"The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre I". Eloy official website. Retrieved 9 September 2024.

v t e Eloy
Frank Bornemann Klaus-Peter Matziol Hannes Folberth Michael Gerlach Stephan Emig Erich Schriever Helmuth Draht Wolfgang Stöcker Manfred Wieczorke Fritz Randow Luitjen Jansen Detlef "Pitter" Schwaar Detlev Schmidtchen Jürgen Rosenthal Jim McGillivray Hannes Arkona Bodo Schopf Kristof Hinz
Studio albums	Eloy (1971) Inside (1973) Floating (1974) Power and the Passion (1975) Dawn (1976) Ocean (1977) Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes (1979) Colours (1980) Planets (1981) Time to Turn (1982) Performance (1983) Metromania (1984) Code Name: Wild Geese (1984) Ra (1988) Destination (1992) The Tides Return Forever (1994) Ocean 2: The Answer (1998) Visionary (2009) The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part I (2017) The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre – Part II (2019) Echoes from the Past (2023)
Live albums	Live (1978) Reincarnation on Stage (2014)
Compilation albums	Rarities (1991) Chronicles I (1993) Best (1994) Chronicles II (1994) The Best of Eloy Vol. 1 – The Early Days 1972–1975 (1994) The Best of Eloy Vol. 2 – The Prime 1976–1979 (1996) Timeless Passages (2003)

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