What an underrated band ! During their really short (too short !) career Protected Illusion made a lot of noise and became one of the best ( if not the best) crossover bands in Finland ! Band sounded like a more violent and European version of Cryptic Slaughter.
“1989-1991: Watching The Wake” serves us an anthology of Finn’s career, starting with whole album “Festering Fairytales”, and then going into EPs and demos period. Everything here is violent and aggressive, even if it’s a total crossover, a lot of influences from death metal are clearly noticeable here. Compositions are simple, yet totally filled with power, and showing a good skills of musicians (“Children Of The Cords”). Great, punky vocal and violent music. It’s a pity that this band is so underrated and forgotten nowadays, they could easily rivalise with Cryptic Slaughter or Wehrmacht, especially that they have a lot in common. Yet, Protected Illusion is more metal than previously mentioned classics. They’re not afraid of coming into more extreme piece of music, play riffs typical for death metal and that characteristic, wild guitar solos.
Interesting here is a totally raw production- sounds like a first home-made hardcore records ever done. And despite the flat drum sound- it goes really well, giving an extra boost of oldschool atmosphere and a new level of violence. Too bad, that this band have never gained fame, that they deserve. We’ve got here another forgotten underground jewel- better dig for it and check it out. This band is worth it- I can guarantee.

Wojciech Michalak