First of all, you can’t say that Nottingham’s Illuminatus aren’t aware of global culture, made up of a Spaniard, a German, an Italian and an English gent, the four piece are set on taking the sounds of Anathema, Pink Floyd, Cult Of Luna and Metallica to a completely new level. 

Opener “Captive State” sounds like a cross between Anathema, from around the “Alternative 4” era, and Metallica’s self titled album, creating a very morbidly surreal sound, something doom metal could only dream of being. This is also evident on “Wait” and the title track “Wrath Of The Lambs”, both delving deeper and deeper into this same surreal sound. “Black”, on the other hand ,akes the band in a much heavier direction, focusing on the power of the riffs, to create a phenomenal wall of sound and the vocal delivery is reminiscent of Scott Weiland only darker and much more vivid. 

Other tracks that really push the band’s boundaries are “Fear/Control”, “Wargasm” and “White Lies”, each dragging the band down different paths of musical experimentation. Illuminatus are definitely a very interesting band, pushing the genre into new territories, combining Doom metal with the epic experimental nature of Pink Floyd, and they could be set for big things, providing they can maintain this high degree of musical accuracy.

John Consterdine