Album Review: Ten - Illuminati

Some people lose their minds as they get older. Not senility, mind you, but they lose sight of who they were and slowly drift off into the weird fringes of their personalities. I'm sure we all have at least one friend or relative who has had a dramatic shift in who they are, who now believes in ideas or politics they never would have before. I don't know what causes it, but it is both sad and troubling to watch someone's very identity unravel. It happens in music, too. It isn't always as readily apparent, but there are artists who lose sight of what they do best.

Ten is one of the bands that has taken that sad route. The sugary band of melodic fluff is now gone, replaced by something alien. Last year they unleashed "Gothica", where one of the sunniest bands ever decided to try to tell Gothic horror stories. Needless to say, the clash with their disposition left that as one of the worst records of the year. And now a year later, they are back with an album that delves into the Illuminati. Great, now they are conspiracy theorists too. Ugh.

This record is one that tries my patience before ever hitting play, based on that fact, but also because none of the ten songs here clocks in at less than five minutes. That leaves this being a very lengthy record, which is a hard sell as attention spans continue to get shorter. On the plus side, ditching the Gothic themes from the last record at least rights the ship. Ten is not a dark band, so singing songs about vampires and evil was simply impossible for them without radically re-imagining their sound. After so long, that wasn't going to happen. "Illuminati" keeps the theme confined to the lyrics, so at least the music returns to being more traditional Ten fare.

That alone is reason to celebrate, but there's more to it than that. Gary Hughes may not be back to his best form, like "Stormwarning" or the albums he wrote for Bob Catley, but his songs are better here than Ten has put out in several cycles. Did the Illuminati give him better material in exchange for a positive spin on their society? See how stupid talking about a shadowy organization sounds?

So yes, this is an improvement, but it's still an album that lacks the needed spark. Hughes hasn't pushed his voice in decades, and his flat delivery keeps any song from building to a true moment of resolution. Plus, his production and composition puts the keyboards in the forefront, which makes me laugh at the fact the band has three guitarists listed on the roster. This is music that could be accomplished by one, with no problem.

There are some good songs and melodies here, but the album is ponderous, and drags in between those moments. It doesn't feel worth sitting through three minutes of ballad-ish buildup to get to a big hook about genetic manipulation. The conspiracies in the lyrics are enough to kill anything the record is able to build up. I know a lot of people don't care about lyrics, and can overlook anything they might contain, but I am not one of them. Words matter, and I don't know how a song that is essantially about putting your head in the sand and ignoring reality is ever going to be something I can enjoy.

So look, "Illuminati" sounds enough like old Ten to satisfy most listeners. It's a perfectly decent record if you just want to hear some (very) soft rock with smooth melodies. It is easily worlds better than "Gothica", but I don't want to go much further than that. Lyrically, this record is one of those things I feel worse about myself for even listening to. I don't like the idea of humoring these kinds of ideas, because we have seen them take a foothold in civic life. Ten doesn't have the power to change a single mind, but even the possibility they could lead someone to delve into this psuedo-"knowledge" is reason enough to tell you never to listen to it. Nothing on here is worth that risk.