Band: Illuminatus
Title: The Rising Tide
Label: Own Release
Distribution: xxx
Release date: October 2009
Review: MCD

It might seem somewhat bizarre: Illuminatus are a trans-European quartet, with members from the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany, yet they are best known in the US (besides the UK). This undoubtedly has to do with their high scores on the 2007-edition of Famecast, an international contest, held in the US. The band reached the final round, which got viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
After last year’s debut full length The Wrath Of The Lambs (originally released through Ant Hill Records, re-released earlier this year through Copro Records), the band recorded a promotional four-track album at the Newcastle-based Blast Studio, with Adam Sinclair (Therapy?). Again it shows why this band deserves international attention. The modern and progressive Metal contains elements from different genres, like Groove, Thrash and Heavy Metal, mixed with influences from Sludge, Post-Rock and (Traditional) Doom. The tracks vary a lot from each other, and at the same time they’re filled with ingenious breaks, hooks and tempo- and melody-changes. But even though this combination seems energetic and hammering, the whole sounds rather atmospheric and organic. However, the dense atmosphere is intense and oppressing, giving it a very dark touch. Nice. One mistake however: the acoustic version of Wargasm, taken from the debut album. What a terrible vocals, what a terrible instrumentation, what a pity.
Duration: twenty three minutes.

79/100

Ivan Tibos.