It was a Sunday afternoon in the friendly environment of Matrix Studios where we were invited to listen to Illusory’s new album, “Polysyllabic”, a month or so before its official release from 7Hard. We grabbed some beers from the fridge, made ourselves at home in two separate rooms and producer Yiannis Petrogiannis pushed “Play”…
“Polysyllabic” kicks off strong with a catchy and more progressive than usual for the band tune, “…A New Beginning”. The sound of the album brought back in my mind ‘90s metal and the albums that favorite bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween released back then. The arrangements are very interesting. On “Dreamshade” I have to say that I thought of Queensryche on a more modern motif with an Eastern touch. “Polysyllabic Thoughts” showed a more modern facet, while there is also the stadium anthem element on “The Eyes Of Hades”.
The album features guest appearances by Voice Box who contributed vocals on some chorus parts, members of Innerwish, George Rallis from Elisadeath who played 12-string guitar and more. The album is complex and needs more spins to be fully appreciated. Illusory look for the big catchy chorus, their compositions are very well crafted, their arrangements sound off the beaten track sometimes and although its roots are in the ‘90s these guys manage to adopt several modern stuff in their songs.
While we are waiting to get the album in our hands, here’s the songs that stood out from this listening session: “Odd-Y-Sea”, “Insangel”, “Polysyllabic Thoughts”, “Solitary Nomad” and “The Eyes Of Hades”.
Yiannis Dolas
