BACK TO TIMES OF SPLENDOR

One of the best albums I've heard recently is this release of the german progressive metal band Disillusion. They released a few demos and EP's before this but with Back To Times Of Splendor they really had a fantastic start.

The first song and the mirror cracked is simply amazing. Powerful/heavy start with a mellow guitar driven part in the middle and the same powerful/heavy part in the end. One of the best start-up songs I've heard. After this amazing start up we have two shorter songs(Fall and Alone I stand in fire) which are maybe not that good as the first song. Powerful and well played songs but without anything special. Back to the time of splendor is the fourth song and the title of this song was used for the name of album. It starts with a relaxed violin driven part then it goes a few minutes with very heavy and sometime extreme sections. Then we have again a mellow part(somehow the same structure as the first song) and in the end heavy sections. The fifth song is simply my favorite on this release. It follows somehow the soft passage of the first and fourth songs. Probably this song will be enjoyed by most of the classic prog rock lovers. The last song is the longest song from this album with a very nice intro and somehow similar with And the Mirror Cracked and Back to Times of Splendor.

I would say that all the long songs have the same structure and compositional approach. This album contains some very inspired moments which is an important ingredient for making it a favorite one beside the general good feeling after a few spins already. What we have here is not a masterpiece but a very good prog metal album with extreme influences but not so powerful to consider this release in the tech/extreme prog metal sub-genre. Fans of progressive metal will be probably delighted and that's why I recommend this. But fans of other related genres may check this because it has very good songs. I always liked metal bands from Germany(Helloween, Edguy etc) and Disillusion prove me again that I have a special affinity for the bands coming from this country.