Rockway – Polysyllabic Review
Athenian metallers ILLUSORY are back, three years after their debut album “The Ivory Tower“, with their new record, “Polysyllabic“. ILLUSORY are moving inside the paths of pure Heavy Metal, close to bands like contemporary Accept, yet looking at bands from the other side of the Atlantic, American bands such as Queensryche, Sanctuary or Jag Panzer. Good guitar-istic ideas by George Papantonis and Greg Bakos, with beautiful solos and authenticity regarding their “riffology”, discreet although exceptional keyboards by George Konstantakelos and a really good rhythm duo by Niki Danos on bass and Costas Koulis on drums. Singer Dee Theodorou owns a fantastic voice, he reminded me of Edguy / Avantasia mastermind Tobias Sammet, with his nice voice color and accent. “Polysyllabic“’s material composing-wise is sufficient and I liked many of the album moments. Songs like “Insangel“, intro “In The Beginning…“, “Dreamshade“, the really good ones “Odd-Y-Sea” and “The Eyes Of Hades“, with the fabulous solos and their prog substance, the epic “Last Fallen Angel” and Accept-ic “One Sad Moment Of Existence” and “System’s Decay“.
The band members show they have really done their homework, however I think that ILLUSORY’s sophomore album has a problem regarding technical issues and mainly regarding its sound. Production sounds dim, compressed and although simple, I don’t consider it serves the composing demands. Everything is well-played, the band has many interested things to say via its Heavy Metal, however the material sounds studio-ish (I repeat, it’s a technical issue, thus a budget issue and nowadays in Greece it’s totally understandable). I’m sure that live-wise they sound much better and it’s the only thing I would note for the boys. Nothing more and nothing less than a worthy and interesting album, which has many things to give to an average metaller. There are no revolutionary elements, there are no thing which one hasn’t heard before, yet I’ve spend some quality time listening to ILLUSORY’s music. From then on-wards the band has to improve their sonic material presentation, as it is less, comparing it with other Greek albums, such as the albums of Endomain, Diviner or The Silent Rage. They have talent and it all there, the musicians in ILLUSORY possess many virtues and I wish they’d be back more powerful. The outcome is positive.
