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Illuminandi - Demo 2 |
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It's not often you discover a band that sounds completely original. While many rock / metal bands have incorporated violins and cellos into their music, Illuminandi from Poland has a permanent cellist and violinist in the lineup. The songs seem written around these instruments rather than have them added later to spice up the songs. The strings play folkish and classical melodies while the rest of the band backs them with heavy riffing and intense drumming. With the soft opening you first wonder if this really is a metal album, but as it progresses the music gets heavier. The first song Kto mnie wyzwoli...? (Who will set me free...?) is a beatiful power ballad and although I don't understand polish I can really sense the worship part that it ends with. The second song, The Light, that is in english, is pure hit material. The violin, cello and guitars go off in a very energetic and catchy rhythm that makes you want to move around. The lyrics are straight from the Bible and tell about Jesus' arival. Finally the album progresses to the extremely brutal song ...wiec My... (...so we...) that tells about the crucifing of Christ. The drumming is tighter than ever, the riffing really heavy and and the strings add a doomy feel to it. Musically the song reminds much of death metal. It's hard to name the music style of Illuminandi since the music varies so much and also is very original. The band probably said it best themselves; "gothic rock metal". They do blend a lot of metal styles as well as styles not necessarily associated with metal. The vocals are mostly clean male vocals with some female vocals at times and a fair share of death growling in the last song. I can really only comment the english vocals as I don't understand polish, but it was quite difficult to make clear of the lyrics because of the singers pronounciation and the vocals also drowned a little under the rest of the music. The production of the disc is really quite good for a demo though, and the only real weakness is the albums shortness. At only 13 minutes if feels like it ended just when it had gotten started. I would also have liked a few guitar solos added to the songs although the strings partly compensate that lack. Another minus is that those that don't understand polish can't follow the stories of the songs. Illuminandi has produced a very interesting demo. If they make more english songs in the future they're a band definately worth giving some attention. The originality of the music could well gather a whole new fan-base around it. To find mp3's of the band please go to their homepage |
| Style: Melodic gothic Metal | |
| Hot shots: | All three |
| Overall: |
 
|
| Year: | 2002 |
| Review by: | Whitewashed |