Review by Rexorcist for Disillusion - Gloria (2006)

From what I understand, Disillusion's sophomore album Gloria represents a dramatic change in sound from their debut, which was more straightforward prog but amped up.  Having recently gotten through the first three Shadow Gallery albums, I'm perfectly used to this.  I didn't expect a great album when I came into this, but I theorized I would like it more than many others because IMO the last thing the world needs is more "standard" albums, and we're already gonna get them every week anyway, so I might as well enjoy what I can from their new industrial sound.

I don't know about you, but that super-dark raw and rough atmosphere took me by complete surprise.  It's noisy while still maintaining a sense of melody.  It was also made clear early on that the vocalist Andy Schmidt was taking a few cues from The Sisters of Mercy's own Andrew Eldritch.  He also takes many times to go for spoken word segments rather than singing, which means the band has a clear urban vision for the album.  I'll say this, the urban factor definitely works for the album.  Like I said, I appreciate new sounds, and it's safe to say that this album is pretty unique to the prog metal scene.  There are some very interesting decisions you'd never get on the previous album, such as the choral synths on the title track being combined with spoken word.  Another great example is Avalanche's black metal intro.  That was COMPLETELY unexpected.  The tremelo-picking is tuned down to allow for a funkier rock guitar to take its place, which means there is still some room for evolution in these tracks.

There's a big problem with switching their sound to an industrial one, though.  Their new sound is partially built on the repetition of singular notes heard often in industrial metal, and is contradictory to the melodic prowess that made their first album so good, which means instead of merely switching styles, they also forgot one of their signature skills at times.  The melodies here aren't generally bad, but some are much better than others to the point where another strong comparison to the debut keeps this album from reaching the same heights.  Another little problem is that Schmidt easily had more room for his more melodic vocals, and he largely abandoned them in favor of darker urban vocals that don't have the same effect.

This is one of those cases where a band's ambition creates something good but also alienates the fans.  Not every idea present is a good one, but the band works with what they're doing here pretty well.  I'm not sure why they decided to take such a drastic turn in their sound, but with some more fleshing out, they could've had something brilliant.  Instead, we get something enjoyable and diverse, but uneven and lacking spirit.