Xandria's New Singer Announced!

Today, February 8th 2009, is the day that gothic rock/metal band Xandria announced their new singer on their official website. It's been more than 9 months since the band's original frontwoman, Lisa Middelhauve, left the band for personal reasons, and today her replacement's identity has been finally revealed.

The lucky girl is Kerstin Bischof, of whom little is known by most of the world. We, as of now, have no more information other than the singer's name, her bio on the band's official page, a few pictures of her and the band, and a personal greeting to the Xandria fans of the world.

"The guys and I are busy writing new songs and I love it!," she says. "I can hardly wait entering the stage with them for the first time! In the first audition rehearsal I already felt that it just fit perfectly together – the songs rocked! Of course the guys were kind of held back at that time but when they told me a few weeks later they felt the same."

Although the band releases nothing but those things, Miss Bischof is said to be the singer under the alias of Lakonia, who is known for her collaborations with the german band Axxis. A live video with Lakonia and Axxis can be found here.

I looked up some more of Axxis, focusing on songs that feature Lakonia, and I must say that she is quite talented. A great addiion to Xandria, I'm sure.

Maybe that's why the band waited so long to release their new frontwoman's identity. Xandria founder Marco Heubaum said in an interview with Sonic Cathedral that, "[the band] will present a new singer to the public when the time is right." Kerstin also mentions in her greeting to the fans that, "there was some 'stuff' to get rid of." What this "stuff" may be is unkown, but it seems that this singer wants to let go of her past so that she and the band can have a brighter future ahead.

Our first sample of her voice with Xandria will probably be on the coming Chezch mini-tour this march, after which I'm sure fans will be scrambling to view any videos recorded at the concert and posted on YouTube. Maybe we'll get lucky and the band will record their own video at the concert so we don't have to rely on crappy digital-camera quality videos. Nonetheless, I urge any lucky fans in the Chezch Republic who are attending the concerts to bring their cameras and use up as much batterly life as possible.

It is unknown when the band will release any material with their new singer, but hopefully it will be sometime this spring. I am, as probably many Xandria fans are, anxious to see the results of this new lineup.

The band has scheduled a South American tour, taking place this summer, and a few festival appearances as well. Hopefully there are some more shows here and there for the world to get used to the new Xandria.

Xandria Official Site