Illusion Suite – Final Hour

Releasedate: 07-08-2009; Label: Limb Music
By: Elvira Visser

Illusion Suite is a band from Norway, founded back in 2003. Now in 2009 it is time to present their debut album “Final Hour”. A band that plays melodic progressive metal. Although the band was founded in 2003 there has been musicians joining the band over time for final completion in 2009. A demo and a self-funded EP were made in the process.

To me the band is a combination between “Dream Theater” and the Dutch “Xystus”. The song structures are great and there is a good balance between the vocals, drums and the sound of the guitars. I am not a big fan of this type of vocalist, which add that theatrical touch to it, but Bill Makatowicz has clearly singing skills. His voice is charismatic. The music is besides from being melodic also bombastic and epic and at certain times it flirts with power metal.

Do not judge to fast if you only see nine tracks on this album because they are all longer then four minutes except “A Ghost From The Past”. “The Adventures Of Arcan” is the longest and has some twist and changes in there, to me a bit odd. Also a female vocalist joins on this track. The track that opens the CD “The W.I.R.E” and “The Passage” are great songs with a strong bass line underneath the drums and vocal lines. That has room for guitar solo’s and shows the metal side of the band while playing a bit more rough. “Once We Were Here” shows that the band has an varied album as this track has an electro intro. The band shows that it is capable of writing strong catchy choruses but know how to play guitar solo’s as well. And although I find “The Adventure Of Arcan” a bit odd it is also one of the 3 best tracks together with “The W.I.R.E” and “Pandoras Box” where you really hear the symphonic aspect. It shows also a more ballad side of the band with the same as “A Moment To Remember”. These tracks have a bit of what I call it musical influence, in the way that the voice is used as a strong instrument. This band delivers a great debut album fans from Symphonic X and Dream Theatre should give it a listen.

01 The W.I.R.E
02 Scarlet Skies
03 The Devil In Your Heart
04 Once We Were Here
05 A Moment To Remember
06 The Passage
07 Pandoras Box
08 The Adventures Of Arcan
09 A Ghost From The Past

Tracklist:

Links:
Illusion Suite MySpace