4.5 out of 5 Stars!

I’ve always had a fondness for Ilúvatar, a Baltimore-based group I discovered almost immediately after getting online for the first time back in the ’90s. Yes, the Internet proved a godsend for music lovers like myself who no longer needed to rely on local record stores to stock interesting new music (especially in the Prog-Rock genre); now I could spend my entire paycheck ordering music directly from record label websites without having to leave the comforts of home.

Therefore, Ilúvatar’s debut album was one of the first purchases I made online, thus the initial source of my fondness for the band. And not only did Ilúvatar create an album of melodic Prog-Rock with a touch of Genesis and Yes influences, but the band also had its own sound/style, thanks mainly to the singer (Glenn McLaughlin) who possessed a unique and recognizable voice instead of simply attempting to clone Peter Gabriel or Jon Anderson.

Thanks to haunting tracks such as “Exodus,” “Wait for the Call,” “Marionette,” “Eagle,” and “Emperor’s New Clothes,” I played this album continuously upon purchase and still listen to it on a regular basis all these many years later. To me, this one is a classic, one of those “must have on a desert island” albums, and Ilúvatar remains one of my favorite Prog bands from the ’90s (and into this decade, due to the band releasing a new album in 2014 after a fifteen-year absence).

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