{"id":96019,"date":"2022-10-07T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T23:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=96019"},"modified":"2022-10-12T16:48:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T15:48:23","slug":"album-review-blind-illusion-wrath-of-the-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-blind-illusion-wrath-of-the-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"BLIND ILLUSION – Wrath Of The Gods (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLIND ILLUSION
Wrath Of The Gods<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHammerheart (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I think the term \u201ccult band\u201d was designed for Californian thrashers Blind Illusion. After all, here was a band that emerged in the late 70s, then released a batch of demos in the early 80s which resulted in an impressive debut (The Sane Asylum<\/em>) in1988\u2026 and then were gone four years later.<\/p>\n

Over the years Blind Illusion had numerous line-up changes. In fact, a crazy amount of line-up alterations which saw original members Les Claypool (bass) and David Godfrey (drums, before switching to vocals) go on to Primus and Heathen respectively. The band reformed in 2009 but if you\u2019d blinked you would have missed the underwhelming Demon Master<\/em> record which featured other original member Marc Biedermann (vocals and guitar) who trudged on nonetheless\u2026 and I\u2019m glad he did, because Blind Illusion circa 2022 is a stronger animal.<\/p>\n

Okay, so the joys of those early days can never be repeated but with Biedermann being joined by Doug Piercy (Anvil Chorus \/ ex-Heathen) on guitar, Tony Gears on bass, and Andy Galleon (ex-Death Angel) on drums this was always going to be a solid return to form.<\/p>\n

Wrath Of The Gods<\/em> goes for the throat immediately with opening track \u2018Straight As The Crowbar Flies\u2019. It\u2019s fluid, crunchy Bay Area thrash and that\u2019s the theme throughout as the combo effortlessly chugs along with an array of crisp riffs, Galleon\u2019s steady percussion and Biedermann\u2019s rich and fiery pipes. To an extent this isn\u2019t the progressive thrash I was expecting and in a sense the record feels rather safe, but it still thrashes hard nonetheless as the combo shift between comfortable mid-paced grooves and the expected speedier segments, even if for the most part this feels more like a lost 90s thrash metal record.<\/p>\n

\u2018Slow Death\u2019 exhibits the pace I was hoping for, but such haste is few and far between. \u2018Amazing Maniacal Monolith\u2019 (included on the CD version as a bonus track) is somewhat of a mid-90s creeping groove; catchy but tepid and hints of an early 90s Mordred vibe. \u2018Spaced\u2019 is flashy and funky, again hinting at an early \u201890s Mordred snap, while \u2018Lucifers Awakening\u2019 explores groove metal nuances again but with edgier shifts. I applaud the variety but for me it\u2019s only the likes of \u2018Protomolecule\u2019 which showcases the dazzling sort of twisting thrash us kids became accustomed to three decades ago.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not saying Blind Illusion should revisit the past, but Wrath Of The Gods<\/em> is mostly a mid-paced outing that has strong whiffs of the mid-90s, with flecks of Pantera and plenty of Mordred spice. The title track displays plenty of zipping musicianship while splicing together doomier segments, and \u2018Behemoth\u2019 boasts a tougher, grittier charge, but then closer \u2018No Rest Till Budapest\u2019 (another CD bonus track) is a rather greasy, middle of the road anthemic rocker that borders on the cringe \u2013 dude, just leave this sort of stuff to Anvil!<\/p>\n

So, the lack of thrash here rings alarm bells, although one gets the sense that Marc Biedermann is doing what he wants and that\u2019s fine. There are some very good songs on offer here but too many are rather formulaic plodders I would have expected from a waning 80s thrash act to have released in 1994.<\/p>\n

There is warmness to the production, but in contrast Wrath Of The Gods<\/em> lacks aggression and zest which suggestions a lack of real hunger and leadership. I\u2019m hoping Blind Illusion doesn\u2019t disappear again and live in the hope that with another album in a year or so may enable Biedermann to find his feet and sound.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLIND ILLUSIONWrath Of The Gods Hammerheart (2022)Rating: 7\/10 I think the term \u201ccult band\u201d was designed for Californian thrashers Blind Illusion. After all, here was a band that emerged in the late 70s, then released a batch of demos in the early 80s which resulted in an impressive debut (The Sane Asylum) in1988\u2026 and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5034],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-blind-illusion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96020,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019\/revisions\/96020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}