ILUVATAR

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.

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.

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.

First of all, cover art is amazing! I'm not a very good fan of Neo Prog, since a lot of bands I listen to fail to attract me, but this band surprised me when I heard their first album. This one is much better than their debut, the Neo flavor is here but also a more accesible Genesis influenced music.

Pros: +High quality Neo Prog. +Cover art (again). +Easy to get. +Late Of Conscience and Eye Next To The Glass are the best ones IMO.

Cons: -Some dry and disperse moments. -I sometimes feel that keyboard lack

Veredict: while it is not essential for general prog lovers, it is an accesible work from the 90's, better than the first album (which I would say is a 3.5 tars album), not so old but no so young, nice! Ilúvatar's first two albums are musts for Neo-prog lovers.

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 .........

Iluvatar presents us their masterpiece CHILDREN which is a complete neoprog sound with nice guitar movements and keyboard environments all the way through. Completely inspired in early Marillion, Iluvatar created good compositions. Sometimes the songs sound a bit from the eighties. Had Iluvatar been known, maybe this album would have had a lot of excellent reviews in the mainstream world. All the songs maintain a rhythm which never falls to mellow sounds, although I feel that maybe at times it was necessary to vary a bit. Late of Conscience is the track that got me more, and Your Darkest Hour has really good orientation. The concept of the album is also really good.

Iluvatar's third album - which would inadvertently turn out to be their last for some 15 years - sounds rather lightweight and a little simplistic next to the somewhat meatier material on Children, or even their debut album, at least at first. When you realise that just as their debut was strongly influenced by Marillion and their second album incorporated a strong IQ influence, this release draws heavily on the likes of Jadis, the picture clicks into place. The concluding epic, Indian Rain, is probably the album's high spot if you want something a little moodier, but for the most part this is bright summery, soaring neo-prog of the sort which Jadis made their trademark.

Iluvatar's second album sees them expanding their range of classic neo-prog reference points, adding a welcome IQ influence to their sound (whereas the preceding album more closely resembled Marillion). This is particularly evident in Dennis Mullin's guitar playing; meanwhile, Gary Chambers' vocal and lyrical approach recall Fish's characteristic cadence at points. The end result of all this is an album which once again manages to present standard middle-of- the-road neo-prog, but does so with such confidence and at a sufficient level of quality that they stand out from most of the other Marillionalikes out there. Neo-prog fans will probably find a lot to enjoy about this one, whereas those who can't stand early Marillion and IQ won't hear anything to win them over here.

Iluvatar are named after the supreme deity of Tolkien's Middle Earth, a mysterious and distant figure who is not discussed especially directly in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; what we know about this character, we know mainly from the Silmarillion. Which is, of course, the book which Marillion took their name from (chopping off the "Sil" to avoid any legal unpleasantness)... so that's a fairly clear hint right there where the band are getting their inspiration from.

Sure enough, this is fairly straight-ahead neo-prog in the mould of early Marillion, with perhaps a dash of Pendragon added. I was ready to give this one an average rating and move on... except that to my ears there's something special to it which makes it earn a higher rating than I'd usually give to fairly unoriginal neo-prog groups. Take, for instance, vocalist Glenn McLaughlin, whose vocal style is in the main rather generic and bland... except he's able to add just a little extra pinch of emotion and sincerity to his delivery than the vocalists of many similar generic neo-prog groups. The same goes for all the other instrumentalists, the band's talents coming together to powerful effects on tracks such as the spooky Marionette.

In short, Iluvatar play a style of perfectly generic, middle-of-the-road neo-prog... except they play this style significantly better than any of the other groups partaking of this particular style. Maybe they don't have the sheer personality and individuality of the top rank of neo-prog bands, but I'd say they're amongst the best of the second tier.

First off, I am more generous with 5-star reviews (and 1-star reviews) than most. The top 20% gets 5 stars from me, and this album is top 20%.

I tire of critics whining about "nothing new here." People, prog rock is a genre, and artists are not expected to knock themselves out and come up with something new every time. The 23rd James Bond movie is slated for 2012, and it's a formula, and a very satisfying one. Same with symphonic prog. If you prefer Rock in Opposition, go listen to that.

So on to this album: what more could you want? Genesis and ELP are done releasing albums, and Yes has only released one in the past decade. So if you want new music that sounds like those bands,Iluvatar is a great choice, and in my opinion their 3rd album is their best yet. On the first album, they were finding their way ? still immature. On the 2nd album, Children, their songcraft improved, but they weren't ready for extended pieces.

On this album, it all comes together: great melodies, extended mini epics, constantly changing tempos, great guitar and keyboard interplay, very good and sincere singing, and lots of big bombastic organs and keys and walls of sound that we prog fans know and love.

So if you're tired of listening to ELP, Genesis and Yes for the 1,000th time, this is a very satisfying substitute.

Best tracks: Dreaming With the Lights On, Sojourns, and Better Days.