Review: Illusia – Mind Over Matter

Album Art by Kateryna Vitkovska
Logo Design by Andrej Bartulović

Style: Progressive Metal (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Ayreon, Haken (early)
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 22 August 2025

The year is 2007. I am a freshman in high school. Dream Theater has just released Systematic Chaos, and I have just discovered them by playing “Forsaken” and “The Dark Eternal Night” on Rock Band 2. I begin spiraling down the rabbit hole of progressive metal, my mind reeling from a whole new world of musical possibilities. Day after day is spent daydreaming about endless sounds and textures, placing myself within the lush, evocative worlds they inspire. 

Jeans, flannel, and converse all.

Mind Over Matter’s album artwork immediately caught my eye the first time I saw it. Something about the 2000s ‘just a chill dude’ aesthetic was immediately relatable, inducing an admittedly mild dose of cringe, but also a wave of nostalgia. A very specific era of ‘prog nerd’ is portrayed through Kateryna Vitkovska’s artwork, and I was filled with a cautious optimism to find that the music being represented by such an evocative piece was a traditional progressive metal concept album that also sounds straight out of the early-mid 2000s. 

Illusia is the brainchild of Jason Tyler, Mind Over Matter being his debut effort and love letter to the progressive metal scene at large. In many ways, Mind Over Matter is a typical debut for the genre, rife with stumbling ambition and a noticeably novice execution. The mix is serviceable but lacks polish; Tyler and co’s vocal performances are full of emotion but lack a certain technicality; instruments are performed well, but sometimes struggle to stay perfectly together, and even fall out of tune at times (three quarters through “Alone”). Despite all of this, it’s obvious that Tyler is a prog superfan, and deeply understands the genre’s characteristics, stylistic tendencies, and tropes. There are moments where one could be forgiven for imagining they were listening to a lost Dream Theater track from the 2000s, which—while a good thing—has the unfortunate side effect of holding Mind Over Matter back from fully forging its own identity. 

Structurally, Mind Over Matter ranges from prog ballad to traditional eight-minute progressive metal track (“Delirium”), to prog ballad, to cheesy upbeat triumphant singalong (“Dream Dance”), to prog ballad, to heavy synth-laden prog rager (“Beauty in Disguise”), to prog ballad. Tyler certainly understands his strengths; most every ballad is well written and performed, but their quality does vary, and the plethora of ballads holds the album back in terms of pacing. Additionally, nearly every track features a guest musician who also varies in effectiveness, further exacerbating the stumbling pace and inconsistent quality. The most regrettable feature for my tastes is Mark Basile, who sings the opening vocal lines of “Solace Divine”. Basile sounds like a Temu King Diamond with half of the range, leaving an unfortunate first impression so soon after “Overture” does a decent job of establishing Mind Over Matter’s sonic and structural context. 

While Mind Over Matter is compositionally and performatively competent, its strongest moments are also its most imitative. “Delirium” sees Illusia fully embracing the Octavarium Dream Theater worship, and while it is one of the strongest tracks, I also fail to get truly excited about it. Countless bands have produced countless songs putting countless spins on the same sound, and Illusia—while executing the style competently—just doesn’t add enough to break the mold in any meaningful manner. The biggest thing holding Mind Over Matter back is that it’s oddly homogenous for a progressive metal album. Songs generally stay close to the tonic, and while there is syncopation, it never gets really out of the box. The previously mentioned plethora of ballads certainly doesn’t help, but even outside of them, song structures are cyclical and predictable. There is a glaring lack of truly exploratory moments that take the listener to an entirely new world and back within the confines of a single song, a traditional progressive metal hallmark noticeably absent from this progressive metal album.

Mind Over Matter sounds to me like a proof of concept that Tyler had it in him to record a traditionally ambitious progressive metal concept album. The only problem is that what Illusia produced ended up being a tad too traditional, falling prey to tropes and cliches left and right. There’s certainly a lot of work ahead of them, but I believe that Tyler and co absolutely have the drive and the talent to make an album to stand amidst the greats of the genre. Now, it’s just a matter of Illusia honing their obvious competency and carving out their own niche to drag their sound out of the 2000s. Maybe some new shoes would help.

Recommended tracks: Overture, Delirium, Beauty in Disguise
You may also like: Noveria, The Vicious Head Society, Dreamwalkers Inc
Final verdict: 5.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Instagram

Label: Independent

Illusia is:
– Jason Tyler (vocals, keyboards, drums, bass, acoustic guitar)
– Dec Doyle (guitars, vocals)
With guests:
– Mark Basile (vocals on “Solace Divine”)
– Alessia Scolletti (vocals on “Shine Through the Night”)
– Lisa Skinner (vocals on “Dream Dance”)
– Emannuel Thorsen (vocals on “Delirium”, various tracks)
– Henry Cowell (vocals on various tracks)
– Scott Gurnett (bass on “Dream Dance”)