Disillusion Gloria

Tracklist:
1. The Black Sea
2. Dread It
3. Don't Go Any Further
4. Avalanche
5. Gloria
6. Aerophobic
7. The Hole We Are In
8. Save the Past
9. Lava
10. Too Many Broken Cease Fires
11. Untiefen

Release Date: 2006

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After 2004’s masterpiece, Back To Times Of Splendor, many metalheads were wondering what to expect from Disillusion’s upcoming album. Needless to say, after hearing their strong demo, their stronger EP and their superb full-length, expectations were high. But Disillusion, like so many other bands, pulled the middle-finger card and released something completely unexpected to the unsuspecting fans. The band received an incredible amount of criticism from fans. Accusations of “selling-out” were made, fans were lost and the world was left wondering what happened to Disillusion. Four years later, taking a step back, I can say this album isn’t as bad as the initial shock led me to believe.

Before I start the review I would just like to let everyone know I started off wanting to write a negative review for this but without constantly comparing this to Back To Times Of Splendor. This turned out to be much more difficult than I thought and after trying and trying, I got results. They weren’t the results I was expecting though. Nowhere near what I was expecting. After much trying, it became clear to me that the main reason I didn’t like the album was because it wasn’t a Back To Times Of Splendor part II and from that moment I started to appreciate the album for what it really is and found it to be a refreshing listen. It may not be as good as a Back To Times Of Splendor part II might have been but it holds up its own very well. My album rating for this shot up from a 2 to a 3.5 instantly.

Gloria is Disillusion saying goodbye to their progressive death metal days and going down a darker path in metal (note: by darker I do not mean evil sounding, I mean a path that hasn’t been explored much) by creating a progressive industrial metal album. Although creating a unique new sound and creating an entertaining listen, the sound on that album is far from flawless (and I apologize but some comparisons with Back To Times Of Splendor will be necessary here).

First of all lets start with Vurtox, the lead singer, which is undoubtedly the most unusual part of this album. Most of the singing of the album is spoken. Now many will dismiss this as hiding Vurtox’s amazing vocals talents shown on Back To Times Of Splendor and such songs like Too Many Broken Cease Fires but the spoken words give certain songs, such as Gloria a kind of groovy and almost poetic feel. BUT the technique is overused and ends up sounding out of place with the more upbeat guitar riffs of Dread It and Avalanche. Another significant change with the vocals is the frequent use of processing and effects. In moderation, such things can be used to add variety to an album’s sound but when overused (like on this album) they can often conceal emotions in the singing (this isn’t helped by the enormous amount of spoken words) and hide the singer’s beautiful singing voice. Not to say the whole album is unemotional. Vurtox beautifully shines through the processing on the first track; and on Too Many Broken Cease Fires, the only song that doesn’t include processing OR spoken words, features a great vocal performance �* la Back To Times Of Splendor. Many other great vocal parts sprinkled here and there in between the spoken, processed parts provide healthy breaths of fresh air.

Once you get past the vocals, there isn’t much (if anything) stopping you from enjoying this album. The instrumentation on the album is well done. Upbeat guitar leads and heavy rhythms intertwine themselves with ambient keyboards or various sound samples, such as violin or operatic female singing, to create a full sound that varies between straightforward and ambient throughout the album. The riffs aren’t as complex as on their older material but still show a good deal on technical ability and sound great when mixed in with the other instruments and sound effects.

The drumming is pretty basic for the most part and creates a solid beat that fits with their new more industrial metal approach. Most beats aren’t very interesting and serve to provide a backbone to the rest of the instruments (although it is a very solid backbone). He does throw in a fair share of interesting fills that keeps his drumming somewhat interesting and shows some of the great talent displayed on their past album.

Gloria is probably the best example of a grower I have ever heard. Upon first impression it just seems as a giant step down from Back To Times Of Splendor in every way. But when given time to settle and once the original shock has passed, a very solid album with a unique sound is found. For all those that dismissed this album upon first listen (like I had done), I recommend you take it out of the deep, dusty end of your closet and give it one more spin. Just one. Try to get your mind as far away from everything else you’ve heard from this band. In fact, if you can, try to imagine a completely different band made this. If you succeed, chances are you will be spinning this many more times in the future.

Recommended Tracks
The Black Sea:The emotion that shines through the processed vocals is beautiful. Probably the heaviest song on the album. Great use of sound sampling in the pre-chorus.

Dread It: A nice combination of the more industrial elements with old Disillusion. Has a nice little up-beat lead riff.

Too Many Broken Cease Fires:Ahhhhh. A song with no spoken words or heavy vocal processing. Most reminiscent of their older material and most likely to please the older fans. The chorus is pretty catchy too.