ILIUM – Ageless Decay

The great American singer, Mike DiMeo, who was previously in the famous and newly reformed Riot, Masterplan and The Lizards, is the best thing that landed on the Aussie Power Metal band Ilium. Ilium, to DiMeo, is the most suitable setup to be in as the band’s ultra melodic music enables him to stretch out his voice far and to produce greater melodic vocal verses.

Ageless Decay is an album which shows great promise overall, however, even with DiMeo taking on the vocals, something seems to be missing on the fourth album of this long standing band. This form of absence is not sending this album into the pits of mediocrity, nevertheless this release is not golden.

Ilium’s great style of melody is composed of the loving clutches of 80’s era Black Sabbath, a bit of Dio, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest as well. The band’s sound cries out 80s with full striking shout, as it is very similar to Black Sabbath’s era of Dio and Tony Martin, yet with lesser doomy strokes. Another great additional influence to their music is the late old flame of NWOBHM. If you listen carefully to parts of the riffs, you will notice the Power Metal engine, yet underneath it there is that highly crafted British sound.

As you can witness, Ilium is not short of immensely melodic inspiration and everyone might think that these elements can create the ultimate modus operandi to a successful release. As mentioned earlier, this release is not terrible at all, it sounds powerful with furious speed, captivating keyboard atmosphere, and the general melodic aura surrounding the music is something to be amazed. Though, even with the great bombastic and melodic singing of Mr. DiMeo and the far beyond influences of giants, Ilium were only able to create a solid release with a more than fair quality of material.

The material offered by Ilium on Ageless Decay has its share of great flashes, which were mainly contributed by the vast melodic verses of steep superiority. Tracks such as “Mothcaste”, “Xerophyte”, “Tar Pit” and “Idolatry” are good models for tunes with great phases of musical finesse and vocal works.

Nevertheless, they aren’t fulfilling their prominence because they don’t seem to move along the path, something is just not ticking with these. The melodies are enjoyable, and that is a fact, but the courses of the songs are hard to follow.

As far as hits go, there are only three tracks, which can be considered the album’s decisive triumphs. Tunes such as the major league killer “Hibernal Thaw”, which is DiMeo’s greatest work as a vocalist ever, the Speed Metal thrill “Ageless Decay” and the in for the kill “Fragmented Glory”. These three will send you down the plains through battles and the deeper mind. The rest are no more than solid ones, they also have their minutes of fame yet they can be put aside of the big three.

Ilium is an awesome band and no one can deny it. Their Power Metal music is far more melodic than many others in the Modern Power Metal scene. Their aim is straight 80s Metal music with enforced melodies. Ageless Decay didn’t turn out to be their best work, yet they can make wonders in years to come, especially with their talents and a great vocalist behind the mic.