AVELION – Illusion Of Transparency

Illusion Of Transparency is a solid, Djent inflected album, taking as its subject matter familiar Progressive themes such as alienation, anomie and the human condition in general.  The strong first track (and first single) “Fading Out”, a fearful paean regarding the feeling of losing one’s identity, effectively sets the tone for what follows. At times sounding like a sped-up Marillion, the nine additional songs cycle into each other almost too seamlessly.  If there is any knock against Illusion it is that the music, while generally majestic, has little real variety or truly thrilling moments. One exception would be the stand-out track “Falling Down”, which primarily is a dialogue between keyboards and drums between the vocal choruses until both instruments go up-tempo, yielding to a much appreciated (and much needed) guitar solo.

There’s no real lift off after “Falling Down”; the songs are decidedly slower and sparer until the final track “Never Wanted”. The earlier songs like “Burst Inside” pack more of a punch, but even these suffer from having predictable patterns and trading solos on keyboards and guitar. The sameness of the material doesn’t mean it isn’t without its uses, though. The smooth techy sound and rapid rhythmic underpinning make Illusion Of Transparency a great album to have playing in the background when one is trying to get something done on the computer, especially as the music is unlikely to excite the senses enough to distract from the work at hand.

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