Band:	Chalice
Album:	An Illusion To The Temporary Real
Style:	Gothic doom metal
Release date:	October 2001
Guest review by:	Oracle

01. The Jester's Banquet
02. An Illusion To The Temporary Real
03. Vista
04. Catalepsy In Staccato Rain
05. To Death Betrothed
06. Abyss
07. The Stigma Of An Age

Chalice is a female fronted Gothic Metal band from Australia who has released only three albums since they started in 1996. "An Illusion To The Temporary Real" is their second record but after their third album, the band has since disbanded. I only found out about this band in 2006 and was amazed when I first heard their music.

An Illusion To The Temporary Real consists of seven tracks. The songs on this album aren't too long but the average track length is about six minutes or so. Most of the songs are good and they are not too aggressive/heavy and are quite slow but it's also very calming, elegant and easy listening. The flute in the background really works with the guitar riffs and the operatic female vocals also work for the style of the music as they are not contrasting with the guitars. The drumming is not too energetic which is good because I don't think this album really needs to have energetic drumming as it would ruin the calmness of the album and it also wouldn't work with the guitars, vocals or flute. At first I thought Chalice were going to be another one of these cliché Gothic Metal bands that have the female vocals and aggressive male growls but they are very different and that is why I like them. In my opinion, you have to really be into Gothic Metal to listen to Chalice because they are not easy to get into and it will take a few listens before having an opinion.

This album would have to be my favourite from Chalice as I like most of the songs on it. I am not going to review every song as there is no need to but in my opinion, the best songs off this album are "An Illusion To The Temporary Real", "Vista", "Catalepsy In The Staccato Rain" and "Abyss". The songs that I haven't mentioned are also great. Each song does not sound the same and are very unique. They are also not repetitive and the listener will not get bored which is always a good thing.

I wouldn't say there are a lot of blemishes on this album but I do find that the production quality is not as clear as it should be but I have to give this band credit as they are not really big in their scene. I find Chalice to be very distinguished from other Gothic Metal bands I've heard and are pretty talented so I'll give them thumbs up for their effort on this fantastic album as I have a lot of respect for them. I would probably rate the album about an 8.9 or 9 mainly because they did a good job and they deserve this rating.