Album Review: Illumishade - ECLYPTIC : Wake of Shadows

Let's start with an existential question; is it insulting to say a side project might be more exciting than the main band? The very nature of being a secondary outlet carries the connotation of being of lesser importance, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes, what is new and different is in a direction we would rather go than where the artists have usually been pointed. That's the case here, with Illumishade's new concept album. Featuring both Fabienne Erni and Jonas Wolf from Eluveite, the lush world of power and symphonic metal they have conjured is something I immediately found more engaging than their main band's more varied and folk-influenced sounds. With just the initial singles, Illumishade was beaming with potential.

First and foremost, this is a concept album through and through. The band pays as much attention to building the world as they do telling the stories of these characters. The album is divided into two halves, the core songs that are the heart of the record, and the tracks that segue from one to the next, establishing the mood and tone for what is to come. Illumishade has not made a record that is merely a regular metal album with a couple of lyrical callbacks, content to call that a concept album. They take things further, and want to make this an immersive experience in an alternate world.

As the singles had indicated, Illumishade is damn good at writing stirring metal tracks that feature heavy modern guitars and stunning vocals from Fabienne. They deliver wonderful songs full of groove, crunch, and rousing melodies. These songs are immediately memorable, and grow better as you listen to them more. They are some of the best metal tracks I've heard all year, and punching so far above their weight. Illumishade, being a new project, isn't expected to be this good, and yet they are. This band is the perfect vehicle for Fabienne and Jonas.

Their heavier songs are a wonderful balance of power and beauty, while the ballads tug on the heartstrings with soundtrack levels of drama. That can be done poorly, as Nightwish did recently with their album that felt bored with being a conventional band writing songs people would enjoy listening to, but Illumishade is the light to that dark. They are living in the same world, but with a focus fully locked in on their songwriting. They want to win us over with great songs rather than just grandeur, and it shows. Illumishade is far more compelling than the self-indulgence we usually hear in this style.

Which brings us to the one criticism I have of the album; the structure. Clocking in at a tight 41 minutes, the transitional pieces included mean I'm left wanting more. I'll leave it to them whether or not that's enough time to convey the breadth of their concept, but the record sometimes flies by too quickly. I wanted to stay in their world a bit longer, I wanted to hear a couple more fully realized songs. Minus the world-building, this feels like it's still a bit of a taste of what Illumishade is capable of. Of course, leaving the audience wanting more is always the better option than leaving them tired and bored.

With "ECLYPTIC: Wake Of Shadows", Illumishade has made quite the first impression. They have already mastered the art of writing beautiful metal songs, as some of these will be among the best we'll hear all year. They have come out of nowhere to stun me with a cinematic experience like no one has since I heard Kanataka's "Secrets Of Angels". That record and this one are very different, but also very much alike. The biggest similarity might be that they wind up featuring on my best of the year list.