'Gloria' has nothing to do with 'Times of Splendor' in more ways than one., 11 Dec 2006
Reviewer: Gavin Turner (UK)
Being a huge fan of Disillusion (their first full length is the finest bit of metal I've ever heard), anticipation for this album was high. I heard a preview and although it crushed all hopes of hearing something like Back to Times of Splendor for a second time, I did find some elements to the confused and chaotic genre clashes on 'Gloria' interesting. Unfortunately the previews I had heard were the cream of the crop as far as material on this album goes.
Tracks like 'The Black Sea', 'Gloria' (in places) and 'Too Many Broken Cease Fires' hold some elements which made the first album the giant it was, but any momentum created in these tracks are spoiled by the attempted avantegard egocentricism in the compostions inbetween.
I've tried very hard to like the album and on a couple of occasions I thought I really understood what Disillusion had achieved with it, but now I really do realise it just lacks artistic quality. It's less a reflection of the industrial world and the streets of leipzig (as I believe they intended to draw musically) and more a reflection of a pseudo-intellectual on an ego trip.
If Rammstein released this album (not just drawing similarities to their nationality, but also the type of voice and crushing riffs used), It'd be their best album hands down, but for the fathers of Back to Times of Splendor to lower the quality of their writing to this level, seemingly just to prove they can, is in my opinion a big dissapointment.
That said, the album IS an event. It is something very very different and very very interesting (especially for people keen on new exciting production techniques). The reason this is still worth buying is it's like the Edward Monk of prog metal, harsh lines and surreal use of colours with a clearly meaningful but ever so confusing final image, Where as 'back to times of splendor' was the Da Vinci, perfect in everyway, but still expressive in it's technique and what it impossibly objectifies.
Reviewer: Gavin Turner (UK)
Being a huge fan of Disillusion (their first full length is the finest bit of metal I've ever heard), anticipation for this album was high. I heard a preview and although it crushed all hopes of hearing something like Back to Times of Splendor for a second time, I did find some elements to the confused and chaotic genre clashes on 'Gloria' interesting. Unfortunately the previews I had heard were the cream of the crop as far as material on this album goes.
Tracks like 'The Black Sea', 'Gloria' (in places) and 'Too Many Broken Cease Fires' hold some elements which made the first album the giant it was, but any momentum created in these tracks are spoiled by the attempted avantegard egocentricism in the compostions inbetween.
I've tried very hard to like the album and on a couple of occasions I thought I really understood what Disillusion had achieved with it, but now I really do realise it just lacks artistic quality. It's less a reflection of the industrial world and the streets of leipzig (as I believe they intended to draw musically) and more a reflection of a pseudo-intellectual on an ego trip.
If Rammstein released this album (not just drawing similarities to their nationality, but also the type of voice and crushing riffs used), It'd be their best album hands down, but for the fathers of Back to Times of Splendor to lower the quality of their writing to this level, seemingly just to prove they can, is in my opinion a big dissapointment.
That said, the album IS an event. It is something very very different and very very interesting (especially for people keen on new exciting production techniques). The reason this is still worth buying is it's like the Edward Monk of prog metal, harsh lines and surreal use of colours with a clearly meaningful but ever so confusing final image, Where as 'back to times of splendor' was the Da Vinci, perfect in everyway, but still expressive in it's technique and what it impossibly objectifies.
