GLORIA

Although it is not progressive metal but more some kind of industrial music, "Gloria" stands as one of the most impressive metal albums this year, a strange conceptual record that will grab you from the start with its powerful guitar riffs and weird industrial feeling. I wouldn't be surprised to see most of Disillusion fans disappointed. "Back To The Times Of Slendor" was a lot more power/thrash metal oriented in its complexity. "Gloria" is, in my opinion, more accessible and very different, plus, the singer doesn't even sing on most of the tracks, he talks and his voice gets compressed. I personally loved the album, my favorite metal album this year, definitely worth listening, but I doubt anyone will be satisfied.

this is simply the future...a band that started as progressive death metal two years ago and nowadays, after the process of a creature like, Gloria, we could say that is one of the best bands of progressive metal. Imagine arcturus (la masquerade infernale), combined with pain of salvation (be). and finish evething with a gradious concep to base on. this is gloria...a masterpiece for these years. No more reasons to say. a leave to you, the joy of listen at a beatiful voyage into sperimental music.....enjoy people

Wow what a piece of work! As a huge fan of the brilliant 'Back To Times Of Splendor' i was highly anticipating this and anxious to hear what this trio could follow up and have been floored by an absolute progressive metal masterpiece!! Bringing the same metal grooves and hooks from the previous album and mixing with industrial, electro beats, funk, dance, goth, pop jazz you name it there is just so much on offer. A far departure to their previous effort there are still many elements of the crushing riffing and heaviness displayed throughout, the vocals range in various styles and effects and the mixture of heavy rythyms with samples and beats are just amazing, each track has it's own identity on this concept album. It's a pity this album will be dismissed by a lot of fans that just dont get that this band is truly 'Progressive', but as the album needs time to reveal it's brilliance i hope with a few spins it wins people over. As their promo material said, this isn't for cowards, so get ready for a journey. Progressive Metal album of 2006 handsdown and a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

This is a progressive metal album where the metal component shares the biggest pie in the music than the progressive elements. One pre-requisite is required to absorb the music of this album: you have to like metal music. Otherwise, it's better not to consider this album. "The Black Sea" (5:16) is a good example of the music as it starts with keyboard experimentation like violin sounds followed with heavy guitar riffs and rough vocal line. "Dread It" (4:24) has an attractive keyboard sounds in a string fashion followed with discrete music that accompanies low register notes vocal line. This song is quite unique and it's probably under the umbrella of prog music.

"Don't Go Any Further" (3:51) starts with a distorted narration and sound effects in rough mixing style. The music is heavy in rhythm section and many breaks during the course of the music - it's quite unique and very dynamic. The keyboard work at the background provides symphonic nuance. "Avalanche" (5:08) is another unique composition with many interesting guitar and keyboard loops and distant vocal style. "Aerophobic" (6:11) brings the music in a heavy rhythm section with choirs at background and heavy (and rough) guitar riffs and it abruptly changes into vocal part in a very unique rhythm section. This is why, I think, this album can be considered under progressive music genre.

Overall, this is not any typical progressive metal band is all about. The music has a very unique and in fact "weird" composition. Or is this what so called as avant-prog-met? (newly invented term, I believe). Or put simply this album is like Frank Zappa of progressive metal music. It's really hard to classify this kind of music. Keep on proggin' ..!

WOW MAAAN! I've never heard like this before! It's amazing! I didnt know about the band too much,a friend of mine gave it to me.Than voila! One of my favourite albums!

The singer don't shout much,especially,he's really calm,and serious.But,it's a good point,you'll see! AMazing meloic riffs,electronics,it can really be called: "Beautiful metal".Don't laugh.Hear it,and you'll know what I mean.It has a different atmosphere than any other albums.

If theres any masterpieces on this world,this should be one.

I like when bands try to do original things and experiment with their sound, but this time it wasn't a good result. Gloria is not the record we were expecting for, Disillusion stepped out from the extreme progressive metal path and became some sort of heavier Rammstein, disappointing me in every way. The record is better than any other industrial band, as you might think, but it's nothing but a shade of their previous releases. Its only highlights are probably Too Many Broken Cease Fires and the fact that they tried really hard to make new things, so I give Gloria 2 stars. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thankfully, when I first listened to Gloria, I came in without the baggage of ever having listened to Back to Times of Splendor. Allow me a quick digression: Back to Times of Splendor was just such a perfect album that anyone having heard it first was probably a bit off-put by Gloria when it was released. I mean, the eclectic mix of sounds at work on this album is, at first glance, horrendous in comparison. And yet, listening to it with a clean slate, Gloria was a fantastic listen for me. Disillusion really know how to make an album interesting. Each track plays differently from the last and keeps your attention to hear what is coming up. Granted, there are a few failures in the mix--"Save the Past" is just a bit embarrassing, and "Avalanche" sounds like it should be better than it is. But those few missteps are more than made up for with the number of fine listens and the diverse range of genres they draw from on this album. "The Black Sea" brilliantly fuses their former death metal sound with the industrial influences prevalent on Gloria. "Too Many Broken Cease Fires," my favourite track here, has elements reminiscent of post-metal. The title track even has trace influences from dance music. This album is excellent, and a welcome addition to any collection.