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As this is Disillusion's first full length album, it deserves extra commendation. It's always great to see a band release a debut album that kicks ass as hard as this. When you first turn this on, it's difficult not to notice the ambition that ran behind it. The band definitely took a gamble, but as far as I'm concerned it paid off. The fusion of death, with thrash and progressive elements is tight and there's no way of avoiding the awesome song structures. These are often complex and involve a nice variety of elements while still never sounding jumbled or too varied. While the use of acoustic parts falters in comparison to that of Opeth (shouldn't come as any surprise) it is still solid and the mix on both acoustic and electric segments is excellent. No aspects of the music are ever drowned out, and the sound is generally sharp. While the band said in an interview that they don't really plan for songs to be any certain length, its hard to believe it when considering a 17 minute piece like "The Sleep of Restless Hours." I'm not saying this because of some bull-shit excuse like "bands can't come up with enough material for a 10+ minute song without trying too hard", but in this particular case, the band seems to have pushed to drag out the song for one reason or another. The song happens to be one of my favorites off the album regardless (which should tell you something about its overall quality) but it just seems like its length was somewhat forced at times. On a completely different note, I really like how Vurtex changed up the vocals, using different types of growls and screams and a few variations of clean vocals as well. It's impossible to deny that Disillusion have developed their very own style, and in recording "Back to Times of Splendor," they have proved that they can produce some pretty slick material. There is more potential to be exploited since the band's talent is obvious, but this album is excellent regardless.
| Tracklist |
| 1. And The Mirror Cracked |
| 2. Fall |
| 3. Alone I Stand In Fires |
| 4. Back To Times Of Splendor |
| 5. A Day By The Lake |
| 6. The Sleep Of Restless Hours |
: 56.50
| Buy other Disillusion albums |
