FROM THE SILENCE

so great !!! iluvatar is back after a log time ( too much for me ), a lot of time i go on their ancient web site for news but there was a problem to have precise news , and today their last opus is real HERE !!!, always the same band with their unique sound , glenn with his voce so unique , & the feeling is still the same ( really great band ) . the album begin with rock riff guitar but with melodic breaks like iluvatar have the secret , ;; the new material bring more quality to this opus , .for me , there is more creativity in their work ( ex , the second track so special with a great glenn on drums ; guitar is splendid with melodic feeling cool & relax , ( listen across the coals & enjoy listenning it !! ); i love prog since a long time and all i can say : this is an other masterpiece , big thanks to this GREAT BAND , for all fans i reserve the surprise to discover by themselves this album but be sure that : YOU WILL LIKE IT !! a must for prog lovers .........

Appearing From The Silence ...

Hey, it took about 15 years to offer a new studio album - surely an unexpected novelty for quite a few prog fans, for others well worth the wait anyhow. The line-up remained stable since then, which also means that founding members Dennis Mullin (guitar) as well as Jim Rezek (keyboards) are still on board, and of course Glenn McLaughlin, who again is catering for a distinctive trademark with his singing voice. Anyway, a heavy cut at any rate, unfortunately he had to leave the band for personal reasons after the recordings were done.

The album's real fortitude is that they are styistically far away from being reduced to a significant genre style alone. Something which surprised me (in a positive sense), as there are enough veteran bands underway solely resting on their laurels when recording new songs. And so each of the eleven songs appears in a rather different outfit where Jim Rezek convinces due to his varied keyboard work. Thus he's showing a modern electronically oriented approach at the very start while serving distorted samples and melancholic strings for example.

Open The Door and Resolution are following with a powerful blend of neo progressive and heavy AOR. The instrumental Le Ungaire Moo-Moo seems dedicated to deal with cows or whatsoever? Who knows - in any case here they are practising some crimson-esque excursions including Mellotron. While featuring a rather spacey attitude my favourite track is The Silence.which comes with slicing guitar, spheric and twittering synths plus a hypnotic drive due to Chris Mack's effective drumming.

Often I'm inclined to hear a crossover blend of Syzygy, Spock's Beard and IQ in some way. ILUVATOR have recorded an entertaining new album, released on 10t Records in summer 2014. The last track Until means a promise for more maybe, in any case this is equipped with a typical hidden special. No long track is featured on 'From The Silence' this time and they don't define something really new ...what convinces anyhow is that the compositions are inventive, full of melodic moments, ranging between proper and exorbitant.

I was excited to hear this new album from Iluvatar because the band was highly recommended, and they keep getting likened to some of my favorite bands. After hearing "From the Silence", I have to admit that the band is great and has tons of potential. I really enjoyed the album, though I do have some concerns.

The band consists of Glenn McLaughlin on vocals, Dennis Mullin on guitars, Jim Rezek on keyboards, Dean Morekas bass, and Chris Mack on drums. Glenn has a wonderful, strong voice that is accented by Mullin's band-defining guitar that does remind me of Riverside's style. Jim's keys waver in and out of the amazing guitar solos and the strong rhythm section that is punctuated especially by Dean's amazing bass grooves. In some ways, this album is definitely neo-prog, but there is a certain amount of modernity here, too.

The album highlights are "Across the Coals" and "The Silence", tracks that have incredible cooperative instrumentals, including year-topping guitar solos. However, I feel the rest of the album could use work. I get the sense that there are gaps in the melodies, as if they weren't matured as much as they could have been. I also feel that the first half of the album is somewhat dull and very common in sound. It's good, sure; but not great. When the high points come, they are strong and emotional. Getting to those points, however, can be a sleep-inducing, pedestrian affair. All in all, however, this a good album.

Ilúvatar seemed to be essentially done after A Story Two Days Wide, at least as far as their studio output went, and the band slyly acknowledge that they've been away for a while in the title of their comeback album - From the Silence. The album begins with the sound of the band's music emerging from radio static, and ends with their music returning to that static - as though we happen to be tuning into what they're doing for a brief period of time, picking up a transmission to act as a welcome reminder that the gang are still broadly together and still enjoy playing even if it's a little more intermittent these days.

The "radio broadcast" concept also feels like it's seeped through to the songs themselves - rather than the intricate prog explorations of Children or the sunny, laid-back, relaxing mood of A Story Two Days Wide, here the band turn out a set of songs that tend towards being a bit more energetic, up-tempo, and, yes, somewhat more straightforward than we are used to hearing from them. Ilúvatar are one of those prog bands who realise that they don't need to be all-prog all the time, but slip into their music whatever seems to suit the mood best, even if that's a comparatively simple acoustic guitar passage or what have you.

What this adds up to is an album which will entertain the most enthusiastic Ilúvatar fans but which doesn't tie itself in knots to pander to prog fans. Whether or not you personally enjoy the material here, it really feels like Ilúvatar are making a policy of playing material that really speaks to them, rather than performing to appease the expectations of the fanbase, and we wouldn't have received this little message From the Silence if the band didn't believe in the material here. It's not really to my taste, but I'm glad they're still ticking along despite it.