An excellent album, how many of you have heard it???? This is by far one of Metal Blade's best releases this year.
Excellent album, have you heard it?
- Thread starter Papa Josh
- Start date
I wrote a fan submitted review of this for MetalReview. It was among my first reviews and isn't all that good, but here it is.
In a year when everyone seems to be talking about all the upcoming comeback albums, it is ironic that most of the best releases of 2004 happen to be debut albums. DILLUSION have recorded before, but Back to Times of Splendor is the first full-length album from the German trio. And while it has a great many flaws, this album still trounces most of the other releases of 2004. The best albums always pull from a variety of influences and styles, and DILLUSION are no exception. It contains elements of several other genres, but if Back to Times of Splendor can be categorized at all it is probably best described as progressive melodic death metal. Regardless of the accuracy of this attempt at description, the important thing is that this band defies exact categorizationa trait that is extremely attractive in a time when there is such an abundance of cookie cutter bands.
Another appealing aspect of this offering is the epic compositions. The album contains only six songs and is nearly an hour long. Only two tracks are under five minutes long and three are eight and longer, with the closing track clocking in at over seventeen minutes long. These epic songs give the band ample space to carve out their vision and employ great variety within songs. The songs are at one moment mild with clean vocals, and at the next aggressive with fantastic heavy vocals. Tracks flow from one to another quite nicely and the album has a fairly seamless feel.
The opening track And the Mirror Cracked provides a strong introduction to the bands style, showcasing their aggressive melodic death sound before introducing the more progressive elements of the band. This album gets your attention right away and, fortunately, does a good job of keeping the listener engaged for the duration. The drumming is outstanding and the guitars compliment one another very well. In particular, the band is very effective at using acoustic interludes, a skill that many bands struggle to truly master. Back to Times of Splendor is a brilliantly conceived album that contains several layers of sound that are cleverly constructed. This is an album that you can listen to countless times and suddenly discover new things.
The album is brilliantly conceived, but it is also clear that the band have a lot of room for development. Back to Times of Splendor is maddening because at one moment it seems absolutely masterful and at the next seems altogether ordinary and even amateurish. This is predominantly due to the uneven clean vocal performance. Like the album itself, at times Vurtoxs vocals are strong, refreshing and enjoyable, at others his voice sounds a little thin and undisciplined and at times a bit off key. This sometimes results in a melodramatic and a slightly cheesy feel. The harsh vocals are under used but killer. The clean vocals are slightly reminiscent of a mixture of Geoff Tate and Maynard James Keenan. In fact, the ethereal A Day by the Lake wouldnt sound at all out of place on the new A PERFECT CIRCLE record. Metal purists may bridle at the comparison, but DISILLUSION manage to borrow from many styles and incorporate them into a decidedly metal sound. The instrumentation, while usually quite strong, on occasion doesnt work well. For example, the violin intro to the title track is effective, but when the violin turns up later in the track, it doesnt work as well. Still, when the songs are as long and diverse as these, it is only reasonable that a few wrong turns will be made.
While this inconsistency is noticeable, what is truly maddening is that it doesnt really matter much in the end. Warts and all, Back to Times of Splendor is still a fantastic album. Amazing, given the obvious fact that DISILLUSION have yet to produce their best work These guys are an album or two from producing an absolute masterpiece, and it will be exciting to watch them grow. In the meantime, Back to Times of Splendor is an album to relish.
In a year when everyone seems to be talking about all the upcoming comeback albums, it is ironic that most of the best releases of 2004 happen to be debut albums. DILLUSION have recorded before, but Back to Times of Splendor is the first full-length album from the German trio. And while it has a great many flaws, this album still trounces most of the other releases of 2004. The best albums always pull from a variety of influences and styles, and DILLUSION are no exception. It contains elements of several other genres, but if Back to Times of Splendor can be categorized at all it is probably best described as progressive melodic death metal. Regardless of the accuracy of this attempt at description, the important thing is that this band defies exact categorizationa trait that is extremely attractive in a time when there is such an abundance of cookie cutter bands.
Another appealing aspect of this offering is the epic compositions. The album contains only six songs and is nearly an hour long. Only two tracks are under five minutes long and three are eight and longer, with the closing track clocking in at over seventeen minutes long. These epic songs give the band ample space to carve out their vision and employ great variety within songs. The songs are at one moment mild with clean vocals, and at the next aggressive with fantastic heavy vocals. Tracks flow from one to another quite nicely and the album has a fairly seamless feel.
The opening track And the Mirror Cracked provides a strong introduction to the bands style, showcasing their aggressive melodic death sound before introducing the more progressive elements of the band. This album gets your attention right away and, fortunately, does a good job of keeping the listener engaged for the duration. The drumming is outstanding and the guitars compliment one another very well. In particular, the band is very effective at using acoustic interludes, a skill that many bands struggle to truly master. Back to Times of Splendor is a brilliantly conceived album that contains several layers of sound that are cleverly constructed. This is an album that you can listen to countless times and suddenly discover new things.
The album is brilliantly conceived, but it is also clear that the band have a lot of room for development. Back to Times of Splendor is maddening because at one moment it seems absolutely masterful and at the next seems altogether ordinary and even amateurish. This is predominantly due to the uneven clean vocal performance. Like the album itself, at times Vurtoxs vocals are strong, refreshing and enjoyable, at others his voice sounds a little thin and undisciplined and at times a bit off key. This sometimes results in a melodramatic and a slightly cheesy feel. The harsh vocals are under used but killer. The clean vocals are slightly reminiscent of a mixture of Geoff Tate and Maynard James Keenan. In fact, the ethereal A Day by the Lake wouldnt sound at all out of place on the new A PERFECT CIRCLE record. Metal purists may bridle at the comparison, but DISILLUSION manage to borrow from many styles and incorporate them into a decidedly metal sound. The instrumentation, while usually quite strong, on occasion doesnt work well. For example, the violin intro to the title track is effective, but when the violin turns up later in the track, it doesnt work as well. Still, when the songs are as long and diverse as these, it is only reasonable that a few wrong turns will be made.
While this inconsistency is noticeable, what is truly maddening is that it doesnt really matter much in the end. Warts and all, Back to Times of Splendor is still a fantastic album. Amazing, given the obvious fact that DISILLUSION have yet to produce their best work These guys are an album or two from producing an absolute masterpiece, and it will be exciting to watch them grow. In the meantime, Back to Times of Splendor is an album to relish.
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
It has it's moments but overall it didn't excite me at all. Damn PJ, lately every album you praise does nothing for me. What's going on here? 
Demonspell
cheating the polygraph
One of the more ambitious debuts I've heard lately, not everything works here and the vocal arrangements can get annoying, but there are some highly promising moments here, and the opening track and Fall just rock.
Fall is fucking excellent! Sorry to disappoint Doomcifier!
I didn't say it was the greatest since sliced bread, I just was enjoying it while listening to it and wanted to post.
I didn't say it was the greatest since sliced bread, I just was enjoying it while listening to it and wanted to post.
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