Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

THE FINAL DELUSION

Delusion Squared

Crossover Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Delusion Squared The Final Delusion album cover
3.76 | 60 ratings | 4 reviews | 18% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Write a review

Buy DELUSION SQUARED Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Studio Album, released in 2014

Songs / Tracks Listing

- Ordeal :
1. The Same River Thrice (2:44)
2. Diaspora (4:16)
3. Patient Zero (5:16)
4. Reason of State (6:51)
- Awareness :
5. Devil Inside (6:56)
6. Last Day of Sun (5:23)
7. Finally Free (6:41)
- Deliverance :
8. Prisoner's Dilemma (6:43)
9. Black Waters (5:35)
10. By The Lake (Dying) (4:32)
- Surrender :
11. Oblivion for My Sin (6:45)
12. Persistance of Vision (5:44)
13. Deus in Machina (5:21)

Total time: 72:46

Line-up / Musicians

- Lorraine Young / lead vocals, guitars
- Steven Francis / guitars, keyboards, drums
- Emmanuel de Saint Meen / keyboards, bass, backing vocals

Releases information

CD self released - DS-fel-14 (2014, Europe)

Digital album

Thanks to mbzr48 for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy DELUSION SQUARED The Final Delusion Music



DELUSION SQUARED The Final Delusion ratings distribution


3.76
(60 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(18%)
18%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(42%)
42%
Good, but non-essential (30%)
30%
Collectors/fans only (9%)
9%
Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
2%

DELUSION SQUARED The Final Delusion reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars The third Delusion Squared album, `The Final Delusion', will hopefully be anything but that, as the French three piece offer their most fulfilling, varied and exciting album to date and have so much more promise to build on from here! The band, led by the distinctive and charmingly accented Lorraine Young (singing in her best English so far), alongside Steven Francis (guitars, drums) and Emmanuel de Saint Méen (bass, keyboards), offer a mix of contrasting acoustic and electric passages, punchy and sleek Rush-style heavy prog, Porcupine Tree-like emotional acoustic flavours, the sombre gloom of Paatos and a dash of introspective indie pop, with the emphasis on melodic vocal driven songs and only carefully tightly framed instrumental moments. The band will likely appeal most to fans of the more modern takes on progressive music, as there's very little vintage or retro influenced sounds throughout.

The ideas behind this concept work are certainly a lot to dwell on and ponder. Mind-control, gene experimentation, torture, modern warfare and mental manipulation all feature, with frequently dreamy and surreal lyrics that move backwards and forwards through different time frames. Even with little moments of bridging interludes of conversations between and during tracks, following the story can be quite confusing, and the CD booklet only offers help in the form of some cryptic leaked (and I'm assuming mock?!) government documents. I hope I've been able to grasp the basics of the concept of the album, otherwise the guys and gal of Delusion Squared are welcome to contact me and set the record straight!

Immediate attention must go to Lorraine's shrieking gasp over a battery of storming drums that opens the first proper track `Diaspora', it instantly makes you sit up and take notice, wondering `What are we getting into here?!', as well as showing off the confidence of the band. Nice soaring chorus on that one too! Lorraine also supplies plentiful delicate acoustic guitar throughout the disc, full of warmth in even the most melancholic moments. There are nice varied electric guitar approaches and reflective piano throughout `Reason of State', beautiful use of feedback-drenched electric wailing and distorted synth on `Devil Inside'. `Finally Free' sees the acoustic and electric guitars racing alongside each other in a late Porcupine Tree manner, some hazy ambience throughout the ethereal synths of `Last Day of Sun', and the mix of lilting acoustic guitar and orchestration on `By The Lake (Dying)' is impossibly heartfelt. Thick snarling metal tears through `Oblivion for My Sin'. You also get driving instrumentals like album opener `The Same River Thrice', full of heavy riffs, constant powerful drumbeats and pulsing Neo prog influenced synths, `Persistence of Vision' instead builds atmosphere by way of Post-rock chiming guitars and thick murky bass. `Deus in Machina' closes the album with soaring orchestration, victorious guitar soloing and a rising vocal that displays defiant human spirit and true heart.

Without a doubt, thirteen tracks is probably far too many, and several of the pieces have quite a similar sound. However, once you become more familiar with the whole album, it has a great flow and you won't notice the lengthy running time so much. Some will find Lorraine's thick accent difficult, but I think she has real character and great spirit. Fans of the later Porcupine Tree albums and modern female fronted prog bands should look into Delusion Squared right away, and in some ways, the group are a much deeper and more complex version of acts such as Touchstone and The Reasoning, maybe even a gutsier, less vintage based Magenta. `The Final Delusion' is a triumph for melodic vocal driven modern prog that places emotion, melody and subtlety over flashy extended bloated soloing, and the trio should be immensely proud of their efforts here.

Four stars.

Review by Matti
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 3½ stars really. DELUSION SQUARED is a French trio consisting of Lorraine Young (vocals, acoustic guitars), Steve Francis (guitars, drums) and Emmanuel de Saint Méen (bass, keyboards). I was kindly asked to review this new album that finishes a trilogy. Crossover Prog with female vocals is something I can easily warm up to, and listening to some YouTube clips convinced me I would most likely enjoy their music.

The 73-minute, 13-track conceptual album is divided into four sections: Ordeal, Awareness, Deliverance and Surrender. At first the music sounds like slightly hard-edged, commercially oriented mainstream pop (up to Lorraine's voice), except that the energetic opening instrumental - distantly reminiscent of synth-era RUSH - wouldn't be completely out of place on an IQ album for instance. During the fast track 'Diaspora' my spouse came home and wondered which pop/rock radio channel I was listening to (against my habits!). That's revealing about the sound, but to my relief the sense of blunt consumer pop decreases notably on the course of the album. This is helped by bringing in some softer nuances and acoustic elements. However the overall production could be less tight and poppy, as we're speaking of a prog album after all.

Some rather annoying effects (machine beeps, spoken words, etc.) are placed between some songs. These may be carefully thought up to support the concept; too bad I actually fail to form any coherent "story" in my mind. Listeners familiar with earlier parts of the trilogy probably are better on the map in the first place. My personal musical highlights include the atmospheric 'Last Day of Sun', the calm 'By the Lake (Dying)' and the sorrowful second instrumental 'Persistence of Vision'. In other words, I prefer the more delicate side with acoustic guitars and moody synth layers, moments where e.g. PINK FLOYD and MARILLION are closer comparisons than the pop you hear in fast food restaurants. Anyway, I believe this album (or preferably the trilogy as a whole) is a grower when one gets deeper into it in various levels.

Review by Windhawk
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars French trio DELUSION SQUARED is a comparatively new band, formed back in 2009 and released their debut the following year. Since then an album has followed every two years. "The Final Delusion" is their third full-length production, self-released in 2014.

The fairly gentle material that dominates this album, paired off with controlled, harder-edged impact sequences and occasional compositions with a dominant hard-edged sound, is one that should invoke quite a lot of interest by those who come across this production. A certain affection for female lead vocals is required of course, and then for vocals that are characteristically careful and with a strong feeling of innocence to them. Those who enjoy the gentler sides of a band like Porcupine Tree appears for me as a key audience for this CD, and especially those amongst them with a taste for futuristic sounds and science fiction based concept albums.

Latest members reviews

5 stars Unless I am mistaken, with this "Final Delusion", Delusion Squared have delivered the first ever concept-album trilogy! This is no small feat, considering the sum of efforts required to combine music and lyrics in a consistent story, even for "just" one LP... Here we have the third installment of ... (read more)

Report this review (#1162356) | Posted by ventilo35 | Thursday, April 17, 2014 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of DELUSION SQUARED "The Final Delusion"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.