Disillusion - Gloria - guest review
Disillusion - Gloria - guest review
Tracklist
01. The Black Sea02. Dread It
03. Don't Go Any Further
04. Avalanche
05. Gloria
06. Aerophobic
07. The Hole We Are In
08. Save The Past
09. Lava
10. Too Many Broken Cease Fires
11. Untiefen
Guest review by
Darkside Momo February 21, 2007
Well, if the music is different, it's not less impressive. It's less demonstrative than Back to Times, but no less technical, albeit in a different way; the main focus of this album are arrangements. The voice is really different too: 'Vurtox' Schmidt does not sing that much on this album, he mostly uses a half-spoken half-sung kind of voice, which gives a cold and somewhat industrial feeling.
The songs themselves are very varied. A few examples? "The Black Sea", the opening song, seems quite straight and 'in your face' with its Rammstein-like vocals, but listen well? "Aerophobic" takes some electro music structures in the metal world, with a lot of 'holes' in the sound, to sound like someone suffocating. And then follows immediately the enormous crescendo of "The Hole We Are In", which breaks halfway through the song, to let the tension recede. And so on, each song reveals other surprises (and I haven't even talked of "Gloria"'s jazzy break, or of "Save The Past"'s riff).
The mood is somber and disenchanted; the promo ads used the comparison with David Lynch's films. Not a bad one after all, because both Disillusion and Lynch are strange and bewildering. The lyrics deal mostly with the difficulty to live in the cold, de-humanized, modern-day cities. The mantra like chorus of the song Gloria is a good example, repeated all over the song while the tension grow ever stronger, put in contrast with the sampled church choirs in the background. Another song worthy of notice is "Too Many Broken Cease Fires", which was inspired by Kitano's film Hana Bi.
The only flaw of this album is its production. The sound is cold enough, no problem, but it's sometimes muddled and not clean enough to listen properly to guitars and drums...
To conclude, let's say that Gloria is an excellent album, really unique. In fact, it's my favorite 2006 album, but that's sure that it will not be to everyone's tastes. Well, if you like innovative bands, give it a try!
Highlights: nearly all songs, especially Aerophobic / The Hole We Are In.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Darkside Momo | February 21, 2007
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
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Posts: 469  |
Posts: 469
A really interesting album, and man is Aerophobic ever good. Good review, although I find the production suits the style of this album very well.
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Posts: 9125 Written by Rupert on 29.09.2007 at 01:46 Thank you ! And yes, the production suits the album quite well, but it reaches its limits sometimes (the crescendo of The Hole We Are In is the best example)
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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Posts: 825  |
Posts: 825
At least someone who agrees Gloria rules, even if it isn't like another Back to Times of Splendor. Let's see if their next album is also a total change of genre.
---- My account on other musical pages: http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/ http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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| Posts: 9125 |
Posts: 9125 Written by Talvi on 19.12.2007 at 15:51 In an interview to a french magazine last year, Andy Vurtox said that the new album would be less different from Gloria than Gloria was to Times Of Splendor. ... but for now we just have to wait...
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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 Posts: 1342 |
Posts: 1342
Totally love this album! Thanks to you Darkside Momo for writing this review that made me very curious about Disillusion. I can't wait to hear some more from them.
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Posts: 5289
The more i listen to this album the more i am hooked....i love the direction the band takes!
---- rekt
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Posts: 711  |
Posts: 711
I like this more than Back to times of splendor, it has a more unique,experimental and innovative vibe to it than BTTOS. The album is fresh. XD
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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| Mechanist
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Mechanist
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Disillusion are a one-of-a-kind band, and this is one AWESOME album! The more I listened to it, the more it grew on me...truly unique and edgy. Liked it (albeit slightly) over "Back to Times of Splendour"... Hightlights: "Dread It", "Avalanche". Terrific review man! 
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Posts: 243  |
Posts: 243
If I completely forget that the same band created Back to Times of Splendor I really enjoy this album
---- Learn to adapt to the change, or get washed away like tears in the rain.
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| Posts: 9125 |
Posts: 9125
Thansk!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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