This is the review for “The Ivory Tower” from the Greek Rebels webzine translated in English! 7/10 points ranking!
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Almost a year ago I said “OK, no more Metal for me”, meaning I was fed up participating in “same ol’ same ol’” Metal bands, playing covers. It might have been me getting older, or for some other reasons, however this whole attitude began to bother me and I decided to stay away till something really interesting shows up. I don’t know whether ILLUSORY are what I mean, yet they are promising, to say the least! Formerly known as the IVORY TOWER, they signed up with a label, they changed their name and released “The Ivory Tower”, which gave me positive feedback about this band! Stepping on obvious old-school metal influences (Queensryche, Blind Guardian etc.), the boys achieved in bringing it to the contemporary age, something that not many bands I’ve listened to made it happen. Without being stuck in the past, featuring clear production and tight sound, they deliver a concept album, which can easily stand next to foreign band releases! Regarding the concept now, it’s a bit cliché. A boy is leaving his village, comes to the big city, makes a lot of money, becomes heartless and mercenary and then, after being hit by holy inspiration, he returns to a simple life; concerning his previous unethical life, wounds are still open though. OK, not the most original story… Yet I believe it’s being beautifully given through the entire ensemble and becomes distinguished in the end! We want to see more Greek bands making such debut albums!
This is the review for “The Ivory Tower” from the Rock Overdose webzine translated in English!
Grade 75/100
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First of all, a big bravo to my fellow Moschato people and their attempt in music hence the band answering to the name ILLUSORY; after all these years as a band, since 1992, when they were kids, ’till now that they have “grown up”, they did not let go, they did not let the dream fade away!
Their debut album, “The Ivory Tower” is a reality now, consisting of ten songs, moving inside Power/Prog passages, reminding us of bands the likes of Queensryche, Iron Maiden, even Crimson Glory, at times!
Naturally, such a thing occurred due to their “old” influences (the above mentioned bands and more) and the fact that the album songs have been written some years ago.
Melody is splashed in every single song of “The Ivory Tower”, without lacking power and Metal roughness – not a single spot in the album!
The only “negative” thing about it (according to my opinion of course) is that production is a bit “behind”, something that won’t let us see full band and songs potential. In addition, guitars are sometimes talkative without any reason (is it a “problem” during composing or maybe a “sacrifice” at the Progressive altar?); nobody would miss that guitar chattering in case it weren’t there.
Despite all that, “The Ivory Tower” is flawless and one will listen to it many times; it’s an “old” band , however they have just started and they show what they are good for and how good they are!
The album is a concept one, talking about a person (Steven) chasing his dreams by walking over dead bodies, reaching the point he wanted to, becoming the victim of his guilt and trying to seek redemption! (Okay, dudes, try and make a concept album with the exact opposite theme, in order to identify today!)
So, this is “The Ivory Tower”! A successful attempt made by six musicians uniting their strength in order to give us something extremely interesting.
Having mentioned the album title four times in this review already, I can imagine that some of you have thought about the German band with the same name. We must say, for the record, that the band from Athens featured the name “Ivory Tower” for many years, however, due to this synonymy with the German band, they changed their name to ILLUSORY!
Inevitably though, their debut “had” to bear the name that the band was using as a name and “avatar” and behold!
