ILIUM - Scythe Ballet CD

One of the finest Power Metal bands from Australia returns with its ninth album. Yes, you are reading this correctly: Ilium are back, six years after their previous full-length album, “Carcinogeist”, and four years after the Quantum Evolution Event EP.

Ilium need no special introduction, as the adventurous and progressively developed Power Metal they have been delivering has become their very own sonic trademark through the years. However, with their new album, they have managed to take their music to a whole new level.

Adam Smith on guitar, bass and keyboards, Jason Hodges on guitar, and Tim Yatras on drums join forces with vocalist Giles Lavery (Warlord, Alcatrazz, Jack Starr, Dragonsclaw), and the result is an amazing full-length that perfectly captures the definitive Ilium sound.

Is this the “thinking man’s Power Metal”? Yes, it is. Not only because of the song structures, which explore new progressive dimensions, and not only because of Lavery’s vocals, which bring a fresh wave of inspiration to the entire album, but mainly because of the overall songwriting, which ultimately becomes the album’s greatest feature. And that practically means that “Scythe Ballet” is an album you simply won’t be able to stop listening to.

Complex, exotically melodic and still so damned catchy, “Scythe Ballet” marks the return of a band with a truly special musical character and is an album that should not be missed, especially by those who are searching for something more in their daily metal listening.