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 Illuminandi - Illumina Tenebras Meas
Finally, Illuminandi are back, and stronger than ever before. After Demo II they released their live-CD Koncert, on which they presented vocalist Rajmund Jelen and two new songs called 40 Doba and Wejdz (Zacheusz). I was quite curious to hear the studio-versions of these new songs, and with Illumina Tenebras Meas, which they'll release in both English and Polish, I've got the English version, they give the studio-version of 40 Doba. The songs on this CD blow away anything from the previous CDs. Illuminandi truly have improved at every aspect; songwriting, handling the instruments, vocals and production. However, they still maintain their trademark; the mix of Metal with violin and cello. The album starts with the violin and cello, with soon the Metal kicking in. The vocals by Jelen sound excellent, very good grunting and screaming. The clean vocals are a tad lower than they used to be, but sound magnificent. Especially on a song The Betrayal, which exists for the first half of violin, cello and acoustic guitars with the clean vocals, the clean vocals just touch me. The first time I heard I couldn't help myself thinking "man, this sounds beautiful". Without being too technical, the vocals just sound excellent, and everyone who wishes to can easily sing along. And that's probably part of what makes Illuminandi so special; they write catchy songs that will stick in your mind for days. The classical elements really add to the music in melody, but also in atmosphere. I must applaud Illuminandi for out-doing themselves. There are a couple of wonderful songs present here, I just don't understand why they're having trouble in finding a label to release this. They'll release this EP in 2 versions: Polish and English. And I'm impressed with their English, which shows no bad grammar or bad accent. I'll make sure to also get my hands on the Polish version. But make sure to get atleast one copy anyway, you shouldn't be disappointed with it. Especially when you liked their older material, this will blow you away.
Review by Max (February 16 - 2006)
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