Disarmonia Mundi - The Dormant Stranger (2025)^{Release ID: 58578}

Disarmonia Mundi are members of the quarter-century-club and at this point, it's safe to say that they will never learn how to produce an album properly. 

This was a struggle to listen to. Not because The Dormant Stranger is a poorly written album, but because the production is complete ass. The loudness war has taken full effect here and has been a staple of Disarmonia Mundi's music for a while now. So tracks that may have had potential like "Outcast" and "8th Circle" lose all of their grandeur by having brick wall soundscape. Nothing is allowed to breathe as the guitars just power away the entire time. The vocals are compressed to hell and only really ascend above the instrumental when the harmonies and vocal layering takes over. This would all be an issue on any record released in 2025, but could be forgiven if the mood was right, say for example this was a hardcore punk or metalcore record. The Dormant Stranger is not only neither of those things, but this record goes on for almost an hour! By the time I hit "8th Circle" at nearly seven minutes long, I was nearing the end of my rope. This band needs to streamline their albums OR write shorter songs more consistently. As it stands, it's an album that starts off underwhelming only becomes progressively worse the longer it goes on.

Best Songs: Illusion of Control, Crossroads to Eternity, The Dormant Stranger