ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR – interview
- Posted on 11-10-2025
Introduce your band, and describe your latest release, ‘MIDNIGHT25’:
Illusions of Grandeur is a powerful female-fronted metal band from Los Angeles, CA that captivates audiences with their dynamic sound and theatrical performances.
Illusions of Grandeur’s performance, “The Siren Saga”, is a story of the journeys, perils, and triumphs of the Siren and her warriors. The story mixes facts and fiction combining Greek and Norse Mythology, Sirens, Gods, Archangels. For fans of In This Moment, Slipknot, and In Flames.
Illusions of Grandeur’s new single MIDNIGHT25 is for sure an exception in our discography. It’s a song that would not normally exist in the Illusions of Grandeur writing style. So, while in our writing process for our last record “The Siren (2022)”. While CM was in our recording studio, just warming up, Maggie was walking through working on some lyrics, just a basic writing process that we have. CM began playing a “riff” Maggie stopped CM dead in his tracks and said, “Play that again”, it was just a warmup, not actually in our normal tuning of A, but this time in B. It sparked Maggie to start to write and arrange and in about an hour have the bed track for the song “Midnight”.
While the 1st version of “Midnight” appeared on “The Siren” album, as Illusions of Grandeur has been evolving over the past few years and changing our sound, we felt “Midnight” needed to come along on this journey. So, we, with our new producers, decided to update the song and release it as a standalone single MIDNIGHT25.
Tell us a bit more about your latest release ‘MIDNIGHT25’, why should we check it out?
The sound of MIDNIGHT25 has been updated to meet our new production. Illusions of Grandeur has moved into a little more of a modern metal and industrial sound which appears on our new EP “The Siren Rises PT1: The Witch”. So, taking Midnight and bringing that song into this new world was a challenge and exciting!
Lyrically, while the idea for the song stems from and was inspired and written for the Netflix’s show “Wednesday,” there is a deeper meaning behind it. Humans are the true monsters, and while we have seen many portrayals of “monsters” in our culture, people are the truly scarier than the creatures of our stories.
How does a song typically come together for you?
Illusions of Grandeurs main music writer is Bassist CM Carroll with lyrics and melodies provided by The Siren. The entire band participates in the arranging and recording process and each member, as songs are produced add elements into it to create the overall song and sound. IOG is continuously writing, normally demoing 30-35 songs per album then finding the songs that carry the story and sound of the record.
How would you describe your sound to an unfamiliar reader?
Illusions of Grandeur s sound and theatrical appearance would best be summed up as a cross between; In This Moment, Avatar, KISS, David Bowie and more.
Metal with elements of industrial and modern metalcore
What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your band?
The idea of Illusions of Grandeur is to create a world and tell the story of “The Siren” and her journeys. IOG’s love of both history and Greek/Norse Mythology felt that this was the best medium way to create a world for “The Siren Saga.” IOG feels that when listening to music or seeing a live show you should be able to immerse yourself in that moment and take a journey of your own with the band. Illusions of Grandeur’s sound has progressed through his process on each album and tour.
Where would you really like to tour that you haven’t done so yet, and why?
We are really hoping to get to Japan in 2026-2027, we know so many amazing people and bands in that country and would love to tour there!
How would you say that the sound of your band has progressed over the years?
Illusions of Grandeur’s sounds has change with every release from our debut album “
The Songs of The Siren ( Pavement Entertainment 2019) to The Siren ( Revolution of Spirit Records 2022) to our latest EP The Siren Rises PT1:The Witch. Evolving from a more power Metal sound to a mix of Metalcore and industrial. Check out our new singles MIDNIGHT25 & CURSES to see the evolution.
The New EP: The Siren Rises Part1: The Witch
MIDNIGHT25:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/illusionsofgrandeur/midnight25
CURSES:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/illusionsofgrandeur/curses
How excited are you for the remainder of 2025, and what can fans expect from you?
Illusions of Grandeur for the last few months of 2025 have release two new singles, MIDNIGHT25 and CURSES ( coming out 10/31/2025) The band will be playing a few local LA dates to end the year and then announcing the 2026 tour!