DISILLUSION — Back to Times of Splendor (review)

DISILLUSION — Back to Times of Splendor album cover Album · 2004 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
bonnek
Disillusion hit the world with an exceptionally strong modern prog metal album, very eclectic in style and borrowing as much from classic 90’s prog metal as from melodic progressive death metal and symphonic black metal.

In a way they sound like an upgraded version of Green Carnation, maintaining a similar epic vibe, but adding more adventurous and varied songwriting. Unlike many prog metal acts, Disillusion won’t fish for your attention by daft or flashy musicianship but rathey by their eye-catching compositions, which remain dynamic, engaging for the entire 57 minute duration of the album. An exceptional achievement in a genre where 60 minute albums usually wear themselves out before they’re halfway through. It's quite the contrary here. The quality of the material even keeps getting better as the album goes along.

The band is usually put in the Extreme metal section but I wouldn't give too much weight to that. There are death metal elements but generally the music is very melodic and progressive. To a certain extent you could compare the music to Opeth but there are a lot of elements that set them apart from the Swedes. The vocals vary between death metal grunts and clean vocals, but the singing voice is more theatrical and anthemic then Opeth. It sits quite close to the melodic vocal moments of Borknagar and Dimmu Borgir. Also the keyboards add a decisive symphonic element. Luckily Disillusion avoids the clichés and cheese of most prog metal acts.

Highly recommended to fans of the new generation of progressive metal acts, in the vein of Green Carnation, Opeth and Edge Of Sanity/Nightingale.
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