THE ILLUMINATI – The Illuminati

By now almost everyone knows that The Illuminati is the name of a secret society that has plans to control the world. After reading this review, everyone will definitely find out that The Illuminati is also the name of a 3-piece band hailing from Toronto, Canada.

Before the birth of The Illuminati, there was a Garage-Metal band called Tchort that was comprised of guitarist Les Godfrey and bass player Nick Sewell. After nearly a decade of playing together, they decided it was time to move on to changing things a little bit in the form of a new band. The addition of the ex-Nice Cat drummer Jim Gering, freshly formed The Illuminati recorded a six-song 16-minute EP that quickly conquered not only their hometown, Toronto, but the entire country of Canada.

This drew the attention of Liquor and Poker Music, who offered the band a fresh contract in order to bring their music to the USA. Indeed, the band sees the debut homonymous EP being remastered and re-released after more than 2 years from when it was recorded.

Despite the fact that 16 minutes is a short period of time, The Illuminati succeed in taking the listener more than two decades back in time with bands like Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the early days of Motorhead. Even though the music has strong foundations in the past, there is an up-to-date atmosphere that could be described as Stoner Rock with influences that reach Monster Magnet’s sound during the Powertrip era.

The Boogie Rock guitar riff in “Lemmy Know” is heard first when popping in this EP … the structure of the song is really simple with catchy Rock guitar melodies with a style that bring to mind something from Rory Gallagher. Sewell’s vocals fit in the music like a glove, having the proper rasp and timbre. Without any pause between the tracks, next comes the groovy “Salon Kitty” … continuing on in the same tempo. The production has succeeded in recreating the sound of the past while keeping the sound “dirty” with the dynamic and dominating presence of the bass guitar. The tempo slows down a notch in “Wingspan” that features some Thin Lizzy guitar tones.

The best track is next and lasts less than two minutes. “On My Way Back Home … Again” has the catchiest vocal melody in the album where the guitar solo really drives everyone into The Illuminati’s Rock ‘n’ Roll crazy rollercoaster. “All The Time in the World” slows thing a little bit in favor of the melody, and “Absinthe Makes the Heart” puts an end to this short time travel through lost but not forgotten melodies that everybody likes to listen to while sitting with friends and drinking beer.

The Illuminati EP will serve the goal more than well in making the band known outside of Canada, and will help to build some serious anticipation for their full-length album entitled On Borrowed Time.