Label: AOR Heaven
Release date: 1/29/2021
Production: Anders Rydholm
Album length: 52.01 min
Genre: AOR revival / Melodic Rock
Rating: 8.0/10
Art of Illusion is yet another project born in a time when the devil (apparently for good) stopped joking around, and one that would most likely never have happened if the live scene hadn’t been wrecked. It’s a pairing of two excellent Swedish musicians. One is Lars Säsfund of Work of Art, whom fans of melodic rock and AOR revivalism also know from Lionville and Enbound. Lars is, in other words, the voice of Art of Illusion. The backbone of the project comes from the other half of the duo: Grand Illusion’s multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Anders Rydholm, whom the especially “precise” fans of soft-sounding, lush rock collages know from his work with Overland, Seikima II and the Japanese artist Demon Kakka.
Yep. Just skimming the acts listed in the previous paragraph makes it quickly clear what the debut from Art of Illusion has to offer. “X Marks the Spot” is a textbook Scandinavian revivalist album, well known from Säsfund’s work in his home band Work of Art (especially Catch You If I Can, Run or Go), though it’s interesting that, when it comes to delivering the bombast and the pomp “hypnosis,” the two musicians lean very heavily on neoclassical moves. At times that includes cranking up the atmosphere by weaving choir chants into the chorus melodies. The album has tracks where even neoclassical music gets woven in and which work as interludes (Waltz for the Movies, A Culinary Detour). The melodies and arrangements that put piano, strings and woodwinds up front draw their inspiration from Queen’s mid-seventies figure and work. In Rampat Wildfire, a little before the three-minute mark, there’s a way into a mid-eight passage that vividly recalls the tricks David Paich would have pulled in Toto in the first half of the eighties.
The album offers a colorful palette of ideas and a well-balanced mix of up-tempo numbers and ballad-leaning compositions. It’s the faster tracks that really catch fire, bringing more hard-edged rock and pomp theater, both in the guitar phrasing and in the appealingly predatory atmosphere you need to imitate the AOR legacy. One of the most likable compositions in that department sits around the middle of the album: Go, which keeps company with the album’s charging opening pair, Wild And Free and Run.
In short, everyone who has followed Grand Illusion and Work of Art over the years will grab Art of illusion, and the record will also hook fans of bands like Palace, Houston and Wildness. Keep in mind that Rydholm lavishly enriched the arrangements by integrating classical orchestral elements, while Säsfund occasionally has to step into the role of a chansonnier, as in the closing “Eurovision-style” ballad Race Against Time. It’s precisely these extra Rydholm tricks in the arranging that steer “X Marks the Spot” away from the easy conclusion that it’s just another AOR revival album. No revolution, which nobody expected in advance anyway, but good enough to net a sizable crowd of fans of this kind of sound.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Wild And Free (4:44)
2. Run (4:49)
3. My Loveless Lullaby (5:04)
4. Waltz For The Movies (1:43)
5. 4 AM (4:27)
6. Go (5:08)
7. Snakebite Charm (3:48)
8. Let The Games Begin (5:30)
9. A Culinary Detour (2:22)
10. Catch You If I Can (4:56)
11. Rampant Wildfire (4:42)
12. Race Against Time (4:48)
Line-up:
Lars Säfsund – vocals, keyboards, backing vocals
Anders Rydholm – rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass guitar
Guest musicians:
Muris Varajic – guitar
Kristian Larsen – guitar
Jay Graydon – guitar
Pelle Holmberg – guitar
Daniel Rydholm – guitar
Tony Paoletta – pedal steel
Frank Nilsson – drums
Per Svensson – backing vocals
