April 6, 2004 - Back To Times Of Splendor

On the same day as my last release and about two and a half years since their debut EP "Three Neuron Kings", Disillusion released their first album "Back To Times Of Splendor" on April 6, 2004. Disillusion fully embrace their progressivesness on this first full-length release with no song shorter than 4:53 and two that are over 14 minutes long! Let's check out their first full album!

The album kicks off with "...And The Mirror Cracked" and Vurtox is of course in the spotlight with a pretty sweet lead guitar riff while Rajk Barthel plays some nice heavy rhythm guitar as well. Jens Maluschka plays some pretty fast and cool drums as well and once Vurtox starts to scream overtop in a solid low voice everything sounds pretty headbangingly sweet! Vurtox sings in the chorus and his singing is just decent still, but the music continues to sound great. After a couple pretty cool rounds they show off some nice progressiveness with a smooth segue into a softer new riff with Vurtox now playing acoustic guitar and piano in a very different mood and style than earlier. Everything still sounds very smooth and solid and this seems to lead towards the end, but they start up the heavy main riff again and jam out a nice final verse and chorus to round out this solid eight and a half minute opener. Up next is one of two songs that is under five minutes and it's called "Fall". Vurtox starts us off with a pretty cool guitar riff and when Barthel syncs up with him things get very loud and heavy! After this nice heavy opening they mive into the first verse, and the mood shifts drastically to Vurtox playing acoustic guitar and singing a solid verse along with it. This is very different, but still cool, and it makes the smooth transition back to the heavy chorus riff sound even better I think! The drastic yet smooth shifts between light and heavy parts sound awesome and make this a very prog-y 4:53! There's no screaming on this song, but even still I thought it was a really well done song and very smooth. Track 3 is "Alone I Stand In Fires" and after a slow fade-in we reach another decently heavy and pretty cool main riff with Vurtox doing the heavy lifting by playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and eventually vocals as well! He combines them all in a pretty catchy and solid verse, then delivers a great long scream in the even heavier chorus. After a couple nice rounds they move into a new riff with with some super fast guitars that sound really sweet and Vurtox screaming heavily overtop and I love this part! It goes on for several minutes and contributes to this being my favourite song so far for sure! The final minute of this near seven minutes song is just Vurtox playing piano and he plays some slow but pretty epic stuff that I quite like! A great way to end a great song! The next track is the title track "Back To Times Of Splendor" and it's a solid length of 14:39! It opens with a whole strings section playing some pretty epic stuff and they continue behind a fast and heavy main riff that has my head banging! Vurtox adds some piano to the background, plays some solid bass, leads the way with some pretty sweet guitar and also screams a nice low verse overtop as everything sounds pretty epic and cool! After about three minutes we get out first smooth segue to a new part as Maluschka bridges the gap nicely with a cool new drum beat. Barthel plays some slow, epic rhythm guitar while Vurtox delivers a short but sweet little solo! This leads into a new verse with Vurtox singing at first, but culminating nicely with a long scream as they shift into yet another heavy and cool new riff. A little after the seven minute mark things die down into the sound of thunder and birds for a short bit, then Vurtox and Maluscka start up a new rhythm section with some catchy drums, cool bass and even some nice acoustic guitar. Vurtox sings a verse overtop this riff for a little bit, then they somehow smoothly bring it all back to the heavy opening riff for a pretty good last few minutes. The slow fade at the end has all kinds of cool guitar and drums, then they nicely bring it to an epic finish; a pretty sweet near-15 minute tune! Track 5 is "A Day By The Lake" and it fades in slowly with Vurtox playing another epic lead guitar riff that starts very quiet, but eventually becomes louder and Vurtox adds some pretty cool bass to the mix that gives me some Tony Levin vibes! Eventually some heavier guitar does join the mix and it's over half the song before any vocals come in! Vurtox sings in the latter half in our first song with no screaming vocals, but this was meant to be a bit of a lighter interlude song that they do a pretty good job with. The final song on the album is the 17 minute "The Sleep Of Restless Hours" and Vurtox starts us off with an epic acoustic guitar riff, then am the rhythm section nicely falls in behind, then Barthel joins in with some loud and heavy electric guitar and Malushcka plays some cool drum fills as well. After a couple minutes of this intro they move into a pretty epic and sweet main riff with some cool fast guitars, drums and some more orchestral bits to add to the epicness. It's over three minutes until the vocals finally join in and Vurtox sounds pretty good screaming overtop in a low voice. He switches to singing for the chorus and his singing is nowhere near as good as his screaming, but it's still decent and the music continues to be epic and awesome. After a few epic rounds they segue smoothly into a softer, quieter part with Barthel keeping the pace with a decent rhythm guitar riff while Vurtox plays some slow yet still epic lead guitar overtop. The volume picks up after a couple minutes of this and somehow this leads perfectly into another chorus! After this chorus the song seems like it might be ending around the 12 minute mark, but out of the ashes of the last riff rises a new riff by Barthel to nicely keep the pace, followed by some epic lead guitar by Vurtox that sounds pretty heavy and sweet! The last three-plus minutes are all instrumental and Vurtox even solos for a good portion of it! It's nothing too flashy or crazy, but of course it sounds pretty epic and it's a solid way to jam out this epic finale!

That is the end of "Back To Times Of Splendor" and I thought it was a pretty cool album! Vurtox is of course the architect of most of what's happening, and he doesn't disappoint with some pretty great songwriting, bass, keyboards, lead guitar and lead vocals! I love their heaviness and their progressiveness and this is a huge development from their debut EP a few years ago. I look forward to seeing where Disillusion go from here!