Illusory

With a view to keep Heavy Metal roots firmly in place and not create another random Metal Hybrid, Illusory have leveled their goals to keep that very same heart and soul within their compositions as originally intended in its origin all those years ago. Keeping everything within their very own fortress of happiness, the band offer a heavy, cerebral, melodic, and complex sound within their common love for Metal and true friendship. And so, armed with enthusiasm, desire and most of all, love for music, they decided to pursue what every teenager at the time was dreaming of, and form a band that would make their Heavy Metal dreams come true, and are now proud to release what is now their third album.

Based in Athens, Greece, and formed in 1992 in Moschato City, the band previously known as Ivory Tower, were fast making a name for themselves in their local area kicking up a storm on the usual circuit and making their presence known at many festivals countrywide. But in 2013 the decision was made to change their name to Illusory, and keeping the memory alive released their debut album entitled The Ivory Tower under the Leaders Records label.

The boys have all performed since childhood fuelled by the love, respect, and admiration of all the Classic Metal bands they grew up with, such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Queensryche, Metallica, Helloween, Savatage, Judas Priest, Pantera, Megadeth and Fates Warning to name but a few.

And since that time, they have had the honour to play with the mighty Blue Oyster Cult, the late, great Warrel Dane, lead singer of Sanctuary and Nevermore, Geoff Tate of Operation Mindcrime and have shared stages with many Greek bands in festivals and venues all over Greece with a line-up consisting of- Dee Theodorou – Vocals, George Papantonis – Guitars, Greg Bakos – Guitars, Niki Danos – Bass, Makis Vandoros – Keyboards and Costas Koulis on Drums.

With that said, I asked about their songwriting process and how they would overcome any creative blocks, he replied;

“We all compose together. There is no a single composer or a single lyricist in the band. We tend to bring everyone’s ideas to the studio and mix them up together. We are feeling really fortunate that we have never had and creative blocks ”.

So I asked Dee if they had the same persona on and off stage, he went on to add;

“On stage, we try to perform as loud and vivid as we can. We are not different than our off-stage selves. Only locked into music. Everything you see on stage is 100% real”.

Finally I asked Dee what they enjoy most about being in the band and if there was anything they wished they had known before starting a career in music, he told me;

“We just love making music and seeing new fans enjoying our songs. As for being prepared, not really, as I think that during our time in the industry, life taught us everything at the right time. Difficulties and hard times are valuable lessons”.

And that brings me nicely to the album in question here Crimson Wreath.

This exceptionally powerful album driven by emotion is their third full length release, available this May via

Rockshots Records, and can be purchased on pre order by clicking the artwork above. But for now the band treats us to the lead single Besetting Sins as seen above, speaking of religion and the Seven Deadly Sins themselves.

Throughout, this masterpiece still sports the very same dynamic of the day, with a rich flow of lyricism taking us on a journey of fantasy, myth, mystery and far off lands steeped in history, transporting us all into the realms of thought as the band speed down the track like a runaway train. Mostly speaking of anti-war, this collection also includes a thematic unit consisting of three songs that deal with human loss, set as perfect interludes before they stoke the fire once more.

Laced with faultless finger work, crunching riffs, progressive twin guitar melodies and solos, thunderous syncopated drums, and a rich undercurrent of ambient textures on keys, this album would not gather dust in any collection.

Vocally, the extreme power and dominance projected by Dee Theodorou sets the scene perfectly, complete with an almost majestic choir depicting the Gods themselves, adding to the very dynamic that courses through the veins of not only this album, but the band themselves.

Star Rating – 9/10