Century Media
2006
Grand Illusion
About This Album
It's not inconceivable (far from obvious but hardly inconceivable) that Sweden's Nocturnal Rites would be fans of '80s arena rockers Styx. Given their predilection for music rich in both melody and pomp, equal measures of muscle and delicacy, and, now, having released an album entitled Grand Illusion, nearly 30 years after the Americans' watershed effort by the same name, maybe there's something more than mere coincidence at work here? In all seriousness, though, tenuous comparisons and creative broad strokes aside, there are no real reasons that Styx fans should expect to experience a trans-decade connection with Nocturnal Rites' eighth studio album. Not an AOR or progressive rock record, this Grand Illusion of 2006 features competently crafted, if predictably safe, commercial power metal the likes of which the Swedes have churned out repeatedly throughout their career. In fact, resistance to change is perhaps the most disspiriting thing about this band, as they appear to simply content themselves with recycling the same road-tested templates perfected by the power metal elite (Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Helloween, et al.) and avoiding any truly unconventional gadgetry along the way.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,8 and 10)

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