Unser Lied für Stockholm, Germany’s national selection for Eurovision 2016, is right around the corner. Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gathered in Düsseldorf to discuss the contestants participating in the show. Today we look at Gregorian, who will sing “Masters of Chant”. Did they master their song — or is it time to hit reboot? Read on to find out…
Gregorian with “Masters of Chant”
“Masters of Chant” reviews
Luis: Well, that was unexpected. It has left me speechless, but I’m not sure if in a good way. I can feel the epicness, and the richness of their voices, specially Amélia’s, but I don’t exactly know how to take this song. I’m confused. Really, I am.
Score: 6/10
Rick: This song is probably the most original one in this year’s selection. It sounds spiritual and dark but it’s also joyful as their stage shows usually are bright and spectacular. Svetlana Loboda 2009 was minimalistic compared to them! So maybe that would be even too much for modern Eurovision. It’s really hard to say if this would do well. I can imagine that many people wouldn’t really listen to the song blinded by the show. But I think it’s very interesting!
Score: 7.5/10
Robyn: Gregorian’s albums have been pretty successful in New Zealand (go figure), so that might be why I have a strong association of them as a one-trick novelty act, delivering Gregorian-chant versions of hit rock songs. Even with an original song, for me, this is a still a cheesy gimmick.
Score: 3/10
Kristin: Germany is on! This is so beautiful and haunting. OK, I might be a bit biased here, because The Masters of Chant have had a solid place in my heart for years, but I don’t care. This is different. It’s actually on another level, and I fear that the German public will want a more “mainstream” song, like last year when they ditched Fahrenhaidt and Faun in favour of Andreas and Ann Sophie. We all remember how that turned out, right? I say, give those guys a chance. They WILL deliver and bring some points home. A lot of points!
Score: 9.5/10
Deban: A richly textured entry offering countless staging possibilities. Amélia Birghman’s ethereal vocal transitions into an impactful key change. “Masters of Chant” is Medieval music for the modern age. It bears a touch of religion without being overzealous. With over a dozen hit albums in the Gregorian catalogue, the band members have earned their stripes. This would slay at Eurovision!
Score: 9/10
Mikhail: This is Lord of the Rings, this is Legend of the Seeker, this is all kinds of epic. The song teleports you into another world of battles, knights and wizards. I feel the magic surrounding this song. Raise up your flag and carry it proudly! Fireballs, lightnings, swords, shields — it’s all here. I can see it as a soundtrack of some movie or a game or a movie about a game, like Warcraft. I love fantasy worlds and, therefore, I love this song.
Score: 9/10
Antranig: While I can appreciate the musical composition of “Masters of Chant”, their spooky voices are straight out of my worst nightmares. I would expect to hear this song in a church not a Eurovision stage. It’s not my cup of tea so I’ll politely decline, thank you very much. They will undoubtedly have their fans but I definitely won’t be one of them.
Score: 1/10
George: Come on Germany, we are not filming another Hobbit movie, neither is it the 16th century. We’re talking about Eurovision! And I can assure you you’re going nowhere with that. I don’t say it’s not a good song, but it’s definately not a song that can stand at the Eurovision stage. So bring Ann Sophie back, please.
Score: 1/10
In the German Wiwi Jury we have 14 jurors but only have room for eight reviews. The remaining 6 scores are below.
Bernardo: 7/10
Edd: 9/10
Dayana: 8.5/10
Patrick: 5/10
Bogdan: 7.5/10
Josh: 3/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 1 and a high of 9.5.
Adjectives to describe this song;
1. Melodic
2. Gripping
3. Powerful
4. Dark
5. Haunting
6. Mysterious
7. Atmospheric
8. Weirdly catchy
9. Capable
10. Competent
I think this is a novelty act that both the juries and viewers will dig (novelty acts with such appeal are very hard to come by) and Gregorian are capable of making 3 minutes of pure magic. If they can do that, we could well be heading back to Germany next year.
Not good.
Gimmick aside, bad song.
I frickin LOVE this. I’m just not sure how 6 people (guessing 5 men and 1 woman) will be able to pull off such epicness on stage. It feels like it needs a choir of 20 to make it work.
It’s restricted in Germany too. …
Hilariously terrible. Serious?
Some reviewers seem to be merely focused on this song’s genre (whatever it is… part soundtrack, part Vangelis, part symphonic metal). But if you just listen to the actual song, it’s really quite good.
With the Gregorian monk appearance they’ll of course be something of a novelty act, but that only makes them more memorable.
im loving this
Sounds like potential winner to me, too.
I like the harmony of their voices. I expect a spectacular staging, too.
Sounds like potential winner to me.
Beautiful, wonderful orchestrated, and still modern enough to have wide appeal. It would be refreshing to have something different like this at Eurovision–it would certainly be memorable!
I really like this as a song, but could it really work at Eurovision?
I have a hard time seeing it getting staged well, but I guess that will all depend on how the stage is going to look.
I think it is impressive! I can’t understand any reviews. This is going to be magnificent at Eurovision! I wish Gregorian will be the selected act! It’s a Dark Horse.
Never mind, I found it 🙂
https://www.eurovision.de/Gregorian-Masters-Of-Chant,gregorian106.html
Can anyone indicate a link where people outside Germany can listen to the song? This YouTube video is restricted for viewers outside Germany…
This EASILY grabs everyone’s attention and would kill it at Eurovision.
I like it much more than Jamie Lee Kriewitz.
With a good staging this could do extremely well for Germany, I’m not saying it’s the best song out there but it’s different and and it’s a good different, the kind of different it does well at eurovision, If I was german I would vote for it, it’s time to try something new, if you do the same you did last year you’re gonna get the same result, shake things up and try new things Germany, see what happens