DISILLUSION: Ayam (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

This time, they didn't wait ten years to release a new album. And we're not going to complain about it, as Disillusion is underestimated, even within the progressive metal microcosm. Yet, "The Liberation" had everything to please the melodic and progressive death metal fans, especially the nostalgic ones of the first Opeth era. Unfortunately, the pandemic has dashed hopes of a real comeback of the Germans, but it at least allowed them to concentrate on the next step. Because yes, "Ayam" is indeed the sequel of "The Liberation", a darker, more melancholic sequel and more inclined to existential questions.

The opening track, 'Am Abgrund', is without ambiguity on the intentions of the band. With its efficient riffs, its alternations between growl and clear vocals, its superb solo and its atmospheric bridge, it is the perfect transition between this new album and the track 'The Mountain' which closed the previous one. There is no doubt that Andy Schmidt has lost none of his talent to compose epic pieces that never sacrifice melody on the altar of technique. That's what makes Disillusion's music so interesting, and that's what makes them one of the most interesting bands on the death progressive scene. The sumptuous 'Abide The Storm' is as much a lesson of composition as a demonstration of pure progressive death metal, in addition to being one of the peaks of the album.

From 'Tormento' and its dissonant solo to 'Nine Days' and its bewitching doom, everything in the band's melodic approach is always at the service of the tracks' atmosphere. And the atmosphere is clearly melancholic. Of course, this melancholy is sometimes at the service of a writing process now well known by the Germans, namely a consummate art of crescendo ('Longhope'), but it also allows Andy Schmidt's polymorphic vocals to underline all the emotional richness, and it incites the band to abandon at times the shores of death metal for those of the atmospheric rock version of Katatonia ('Driftwood') and progressive rock ('The Brook').

This last title, 'The Brook', is the only small drawback of the album, which would have gained, in concision and emotional impact, to end with the excellent 'From The Embers'. But this won't prevent "Ayam" from being one of the major progressive metal releases of this year 2022. At a time when the genre tends, more than reason, to turn towards pure technique, Disillusion remains faithful to its postulate of privileging emotion, without sacrificing technique, but without making it an end in itself. For this reason alone, this very beautiful album deserves the detour as much as the respect. - Official website

DISILLUSION

AYAM

PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS

PROGRESSIVE METAL