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Ilium: My Misanthropia

Six albums in, and we've got some changes happening with long running melodic power metal act Ilium. For starters, ex-Riot/Masterplan vocalist Mike DiMeo is now an ex-Ilium member as well, and he's been replaced by the equally well travelled Lance King, who now lends his vocal talents to the band. With that move, Ilium also find themselves on King's Nightmare Records, a perfect fit all around actually if you ask me. My Misanthropia is their brand new effort.

Those not familiar with this Australian act can expect a wealth of classic & power metal flavors, as the band take their influences that range from Helloween, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Judas Priest, and Blind Guardian and combine them to form a hard hitting, melodic, and instantly accessible style. For his part, King sounds a bit more aggressive here, but he seems right at home on blistering speed metal fare like "Penny Black" and the title track, his tone filled with slightly more venom than we normally hear from him, but it works within these blazing heavy metal songs. His soaring passages on "Queltzalcoatl", "Lingua Franca", "Godless Theocracies", and "Orbiting a Sun of Sadness", some of the albums more progressive numbers, are vintage King, and show his highly melodic side. Musically, savage riffing, blazing lead guitar solos, rock solid rhythms, and beds of orchestral keyboards adorn many of these songs, with the closer "The Cryptozoologist" being one of the more adventurous of the lot, an action packed tune with plenty of guitar & keyboard exchanges, sounding like a head-on collision between Dream Theater and Blind Guardian. All of the tracks contain memorable melodies to go along with their musical might, so it's a great combination from start to finish that ultimately results in a very enjoyable album.

The pairing of Ilium and Lance King seems like a match made in heaven, and their first album together, My Misanthropia, is highly recommended to lovers of melodic, progressive power metal fans of all ages.

See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!


Track Listing

  1. My Misanthropia
  2. Quetzalcoatl
  3. Penny Black
  4. Lingua Franca
  5. Godless Theocracies
  6. The Hatchling
  7. Orbiting A Sun Of Sadness
  8. Zenith To Zero
  9. Yuletide Ebbs
  10. The Cryptozoologist

Added: April 2nd 2015
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 2879
Language: english

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» SoT Staff Roundtable Reviews:

Ilium: My Misanthropia
Posted by Scott Jessup, SoT Staff Writer on 2015-04-03 01:43:26
My Score:

Ilium are one Aussie band that I know that I can rely on for intriguing melodic metal, so it's no surprise that Ilium have attracted some notable lead vocalists and the latest is Lance King (Solo artist, ex. Pyramaze, Balance Of Power). Lance gives his vocals a solid workout when he appears on Ilium's new album My Misanthropia, along with original Ilium members Jason Hodges on guitar and Mr. Busy Adam Smith who plays bass, guitar, drums and also keyboards.


If you are able to order the limited edition of My Misanthropia before stocks run out that is, it comes packed with the bonus disc Wendigo. Wendigo features five tracks, three originals including the title number which is a great classic metal rocker for the Priest fans and also two covers. Firstly "Tragedy" (The Bee Gee's) complete with double kicks and then "Love is All" (Roger Glover/Ronnie James Dio) and unlike many bonus discs this is one that I want to go back to. Ilium continue to impress with the effort put into their artwork and those cool dark images. Ilium do have their traditional and power metal influences but it's that distinctive guitar sound that helps to separate Ilium's songs to that from similar metal acts. With stirring riffs and those electrifying solos like on the rapid "Penny Black" and "Zenith To Zero" another impressive number, My Misanthropia has more of that which attracted me to Ilium in the first place.





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