Review by Saxy S for Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor (2004)

I hate reviewing albums like this. I hate when I have to talk harshly about an album that I can tell is good, and has received mountains of critical acclaim, and yet I cannot remember a single thing about it. Nothing about Back to Times of Splendor resonates with me beyond my initial impression of "wow, this is a progressive metal album alright!"

When I gave Disillusion's 2019 comeback album, The Liberation, a review, I critiqued the album for being far too long for its own sake, really bad production, and a really bad tendency to resort to a death metal tone that does not flatter the group well. With Back to Times of Splendor, the band prove to me that at least two of those criticisms were later additions. This album is produced much more favourably for a progressive death metal album and the death metal portions that hindered the bands most recent album are diminished in quantity. This helps with the production as well.

Unfortunately the compositions have not improved. I've seen this album compared to Toxicity by System of a Down, but SOAD knew how to write a hook and make it stick. Disillusion meanwhile, write a hook (a decent hook mind you), then they abort it half way through as if it is a different song entirely. The structural compositions are so disjointed, especially on its second half with songs like "Back to Times of Splendor" and  "The Sleep of Restless Hours". As for the overall sound, I hear less SOAD and more Arch Enemy during the heavier portions. On its own, this isn't a bad thing, but Arch Enemy songs are shorter and more focused with a melodic idea rather than progressive wankery. This album just feels like noise that goes in one ear and out the other. 

I mean nothing within Back to Times of Splendor is outright infuriating or grossly offensive. But this record (and Disillusion's entire discography for that matter) has left me with almost nothing to talk about. Even as I write this, I still cannot remember what a single tack on this record sounds like. If I wanted progressive metal from the mid 2000s with a melodic death tinge, and the occasional folk/oriental flare, I would rather stick with Orphaned Land or Enslaved.