Illusion

Founded in 1992 in Gdańsk, Illusion immediately positioned itself within the Polish heavy rock scene with a quartet centered on Tomasz "Lipa" Lipnicki, Jerzy Rutkowski, Paweł Herbasch and Jarosław Śmigiel, a lineup that remained stable for most of its career. Illusion's music blends groove metal, heavy metal, thrash metal and hard rock, with a noticeable grunge influence on the early records, choppy riffs, massive tempos and tense vocals in Polish. After building momentum in the early 1990s on club and festival stages in Poland, and on dates in Germany and Switzerland, Illusion released Illusion in 1993, Illusion 2 in 1994, Illusion 3 in 1995, and the live album Illusion 4 - Bolilol Tour in 1996. With Illusion 6 in 1998 the band broadened its writing by incorporating darker atmospheres and some less frontal textures. Having split up in 1999, Illusion reappeared for a concert in 2008 before resuming sustained activity from 2011. In the meantime Lipnicki developed the Lipali project. This new period resulted in Opowieści in 2014 and Anhedonia in 2018, two albums in which Illusion extended its metal foundation without breaking with its 1990s identity.