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 For starters, ex-Riot/Masterplan vocalist Mike DiMeo is now an ex-Ilium member as well, and he's been replaced by the equally well travelled Lance King, who now lends his vocal talents to the band.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
- My Misanthropia
- Quetzalcoatl
- Penny Black
- Lingua Franca
- Godless Theocracies
- The Hatchling
- Orbiting A Sun Of Sadness
- Zenith To Zero
- Yuletide Ebbs
- The Cryptozoologist
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