END OF ILLUSION

Well, it`s a new year and now I have some free hours today that will use to re-listen to old albums and maybe write 2 or 3 reviews, believe it or not, i have a bunch of records to review but sometimes i simply don`t have time or can`t find inspiration, anyway i may bore you with my ridicolous histories, but the majority of the albums i review had a history of how did i know it, or what happened the first time i listened to it, etc.

Some years ago when i was 18 or so, i used to visit a man who had some interesting CD`s, not only prog but rock and 70`s in general, one day he asked me have you heard that album in which the cover is a cube?, i was a newbie in prog so of course i didn`t know what was he talking about, my answer was of course NO, so he took that CD and i read the name, Anders Helmerson it said, but who the hell was he, then he shared that album to me and i can say that this record named End of Illusion was one of the first prog albums i knew, my knowledge was very limited (is still limited) but then i only knew the big names such as KC, PF, Yes etc, so i pleased took this album and started to listen to it not one, but 5 or 6 times until i loved it, since then, of course the number of my collection and CDs i know has increased quite a lot, that`s why sometimes i listen to an album once or twice a year.

I`m glad to see this artist here, and want to thank the Symphonic Team for his inclusion, i have suggested for inclusion less than 10 artists since i joined here, and Anders Helmerson was one of them 2 years ago, so im glad to see him here, but at the same time it`s a pity to see that there are no topics about him, nor any review of his albums.

At first it was a surprise to see that he was under Brazil because i knew he was from Sweden, but then after reading H.T. bio i understood everything, Anders helmerson of course was born in Sweden but he lives in Brazil and after several years he found inspiration to create music again few years ago.

Well, i finished with my personal view and now will focus on the music, which is the thing why we are here. End of Illusion is a really enjoyable album which features 14 tracks and a total lenght of 42 minutes, but actually when you listen to the album you will hardly notice that one song finished, i mean you may think that you are still listening to the first song but then you realize that the fourth song is playing, of course i experienced that. but after some listens you will get used and maybe know when is another song, that is a thing i like, it`s like a one-piece full album divided in 14 short passages. The majority of the tracks are around 2 to 4 minutes lenght, there is only one long song which is track 7 Electronical Story which lasts almost 8 minutes.

I know i know, but what kind of music is Memo? First of all, let me tell you that this is an instrumental album, then let me tell you that Anders Helmerson is a keyboard player, so what`s on your mind?, Electronic Music maybe, or what about Symphonic? Well this is a mixture of both, in one hand we have the electronic side with the use of synthesizers making some spacial sounds ala Schulze or Tangerine Dream, but in the other hand (and the stronger one in my opinion) we have the bunch of bombastic notes making a true symphonic sound a la Wakeman or Emerson, now you can imagine why i like this album, when i discovered it i found his playing very enjoyable and reminded me to keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, though helmerson has it`s own style and makes this album with his own. This is not a one instrument album, no, it features all the common instruments (drums, bass, guitars) that are played by guest musicians, but of course what takes your attention are the keyboards.

There are no outstanding nor weak moments in this album, i like it so much and i would recommend it to all of you, however i believe some of you may get bored with the repetitiveness of some tunes.

My personal rating would be 4, but for PA i believe 3 stars is more accurate, good (very good) but non-essential. Enjoy it!

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