DELUSION SQUARED II

The first time I heard this album in its entirety and immediately jumped onto progarchives and awarded it five stars without hesitation. After a few days of listening to Delusion Squared I and II virtually non-stop, I maintain my initial rating and more so!

Where the first album maintained an ethereal and atmospheric approach that worked well with the vocal abilities of Lorraine Young, the second album takes that ethereal approach and adds a slick and jarring edge of synthesised keyboards and heavy melodic guitar riffs. The sound is immediate and effective and shows hugely impressive development and progression from the first album.

Stand-out tracks are for me.......well.......all of them really. The whole album is outstanding. There is not a weak track on here. It is very rare that an album is released that is so overwhelmingly powerful and consistent. Before I heard this album, one of my favourite releases of this year was the Touchstone album 'The City Sleeps'. The female-fronted formula is also very similar, but to me the Delusion Squared approach betters the Touchstone album with a more sustained and consistent dose of progressive and innovative melody. Trust me, this is an immense album, a fantastic album and I hope they continue along this line of musical development. Un triomphe Delusion Squared. Remarquable!