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Jeremias - Foreshadow of Forgotten Realms (2013) is the debut full-length studio album by Austrian progressive metal act Circle of Illusion. Led by keyboardist Gerald Peter, this is an ambitious concept album album that has been in the making since 2008 and is presented in the rock opera format, albeit with a vocal cast that is much smaller than your typical Ayreon, Avantasia, or Soulspell release, with all three vocalists being credited members of the band; one male voice with two female.
The music on the album makes the most of the confines of a single CD’s running time, clocking in only just shy of a full eighty minutes. The guitar riffs of Rupert Träxler are an early defining feature, being heavy and direct. It’s the number of other elements going into the album that really fleshes it out though. Orchestrations creating a symphonic backing are commonplace but you’ll also find jazzy piano playing and perhaps surprisingly, sections reminiscent of the disco genre. Or perhaps not so surprisingly, after all a rather famous progressive rock album called The War of the Worlds (1978) by Jeff Wayne did much the same and there are sections of Jeremias - Foreshadow of Forgotten Realms (herein, simply Jeremias) that definitely remind me of that classic album, when the heavy riffs are withdraw for a time that is.
This is professional and well played music which despite the long running time never fails to hold my attention, and all three singers are excellent. There is an issue of repetition at odd times, a particular refrain with one of the female voices which includes a 'yeah yeah yeah' line can start to grate given it appears in more than one song but other than that we're dealing with a very high quality work here, and considering the time this album has been in the making I'd expect nothing less. Although it doesn't quite hit perfection for me, Jeremias is indeed an exceptional debut work from Circle of Illusion with many interesting elements thrown together to form a cohesive whole. Jazz, prog, classical, metal and even a bit of avant-garde, this is definitely one of those albums of the genre that is not to be missed. It's a difficult one to hand pick any particular track as a highlight though, as it's much more rewarding to get immersed in the flow of the music from start to finish.
Jeremias may be a bit overshadowed considering its 2013 release was not that long before the eagerly awaited return of Arjen Lucassen's Ayreon project but in my view the Austrian group have put an album out here than is going to give the Dutch mastermind a run for his money. Let's just hope a second album doesn't take this band another five years to put together.
93/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/circle-of-illusion-jeremias-t3243.html)