Time Signature Don't be afraid...

Genre: progressive metal

The debut full length album by Zero Illusions, "Enter Eternity" offers heavy metal music which combines the complexities and sophistication of progressive metal with the energy and groove of straight hard rock and classic metal. The trademark strategy, which works quite well, is to take groove riffs or other types of riffage which draw more on classic metal and hard rock, and twist them a bit so that they a played in odd time signatures rather than your run-of-the-mill 4/4 measure.

The production on this album, compared to the band's forthcoming "Oblivion" is a bit more polished, and Björn Aking's singing is a bit more conservative, but I still think that Zero Illusions manage to maintain some sort of equilibrium between their hard rocking and progressive sides - and then, I am sure, some listeners might consider the more polished production to more professional, too.

This album should appeal to fans of both progressive metal and more conventional hard rock and traditional metal.

Time Signature Call of duty...

Genre: progressive metal

Zero Illusions are often described as progressive power metal, but I don't really detect any power metal on this album. Well, yeah, if the power metal label includes the harder type of American-style traditional metal which was once described as power metal, then maybe the power metal stamp is not totally inappropriate. The progressive label is probably more suitable, as Zero Illusion make use of a lot of odd metered riffs (in terms of song structure, they band are as conservative as you can be though).

The songs are very compact in structure and production and draw extensively on simple groove and classic style hard rocking riffs. Simple, he said, but what about all those odd meters? Well, the thing is, Zero Illusions make things seem simple, although they really are kind of complex. I like the way that a lot of the riffage on this album is actually very classic metal and hard rock style, yet complex and sophisticated - some examples are "Alive", "Honesty", "Son of the Devil", "Oblivion" and "Follow the Sign", to mention a few.

To me, the production sounds a bit raw - especially the distorted guitars have an almost tin can sound to them, and I can imagine that, if you are into hyper polished modern metal production, then this album will turn you one. However, if you like your raw and dirty metal and hard rock, then, I think, you will really be able to appreciate how the guitar sound add to the rock 'n' roll side of this album. Vocalist Björn Asking has a very unique voice, and I think it may take some time for some listeners to get used to his singing, but, actually, his powerful and nasal voice, and almost provocative and cheeky voice quality, is another factor that adds to the more dirty hard rock side to this album, while the odd time signatures contribute the sophistication.

The is an interesting album that should appeal to fans of dirty hard rock but also has a lot of surprises in store for fans of more complex progressive metal.