AYAM

DISILLUSION is this progressive metal band that I discovered in 2004, dark prog nag with a splendid, innovative and futuristic "Back To Times Of Splendor" concept album. After a forced break, the group with Andy Schmidt in charge since 1994 continues on sounds that MESHUGGAH, Devin TOWNSEND, IHSAHN, DEATH, MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA and especially OPETH can represent in musical amalgam; a raw energetic sound in the inventive world of music and titanic progressive atmospheres, in short, let's throw ourselves into this extreme technical prog metal having already reviewed their 2019 opus.

"Am Abgrund" after a short spatial intro which you will have to take advantage of, it is a deluge in abundance; high voice, machine gun percussion, divine choirs, trumpets in the background, heavy rhythm; mid-break with a guitar arpeggio sweeter than me you die, a voice-over for a juicy progressive development. The musical organoleptic ascent is intended to be a bouquet of notes, sounds and an intoxicating deluge. "Tormento" intro of angels then death-doom riff and the madness of the rhythm that FAITH NO MORE did so well; the air of a 60's film behind and a frenzied, unhealthy and complex guitar solo, a real verbal jousting before the explosive and hypnotic finale, voice growl to excess. "Driftwood" clap our hands, we go on the dance floor, Andalusian, bossa nova, the violin wants to be welcoming; Andy's voice restful here; it only goes up halfway with choirs, dark violin, machine-gun guitar, it comes down again, latent progressive drift; it goes back but now the sound has invaded us and we find it almost too soft, an understatement for my prog friends of yesteryear who are going to cut their last hair from their skull, good a final violin all the same and "Abide the Storm" for the bomb! Trumpets can be heard before the tech-extreme deluge sets in motion. At this moment we are far from prog until a break with these same softer trumpets; and there it is wonderful, cinematic, ambient; the trumpet plays its sinister and chilling jam at the same time; it falls on the jazzy space, on an inimitable style made of marvelous melancholy daydreams; the guitar solo brings us back to reality for a while then Andy drives the point home and leaves us to face the storm alone in front of the emerging maelstrom.

"Longhope" hangs forward, a little in the dark line of a SOEN, a KATATONIA with a calm voice, the riff well placed to imprint melody and efficiency; it goes up before a sudden break with intense spleen, to make you cry, MY DYING BRIDE and ANATHEMA in the background then the voice explodes; final ambient piano for 40 seconds to create mystery and the sequence with "Nine Days" with a singular concept, a crescendo that smells good OPETH, still hints of FAITH NO MORE, strange and sublime for these reminiscences. It is latent above all and the cataclysmic end seems all smooth, gripping, bringing "From the Embers" to the overwhelming neo-classical intro... just before the contained surge of the DISILLUSION sound; everything is there in terms of power, then the air arises in this title by pouring into a melodic-serenade line and it is precisely on a spleen sound that it ends. "The Brook" closes the album; cinematic intro, yes? the current fashion; vocals à la COHEN here on a basic guitar arpeggio aided by piano and cello; the sinister melody à la MY DYING BRIDE, it rises with the drums as if to climb Olympus or descend forever into the musical abyss; a grandiloquent and festive crescendical rise where the sound mutates into deep despair, the sound image of our society.

DISILLUSION drives the point home again with this extraordinary album where heavy sounds navigate with ethereal melancholic spaces. A real pleasure entangled with prog passages and explosive acoustic moments; a multilayer of sounds produced by Jens BOGREN (OPETH, KATATONIA) offering a violent and varied inner journey into the dreamlike and introspective world that lies dormant within us. A sequel with even more musical emotions amplified by the extreme and purely melodic sound, but don't get me wrong there is much more prog blood in this opus than in many so-called progressive bands. A must in the genre.