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The question, “What kind of music do you like?” almost always prompts an answer that falls into the form of “Everything but [insert one or two genres].” Let’s just put this on the record, I hate that answer. Anyone that replies like that either doesn’t want to have a real conversation about music (at least at that moment) or doesn’t appreciate music as much they really could (and should). Maybe I’m analyzing that too much, but I’ve just come across so many bands across so many genres that I’ve grown to love. It’s so easy to get stuck in a mindset to only listen to metal, only jazz, only folk, etc. Then one day you hear a band mix your genre of choice with just a hint of some genre you don’t normally listen to. For those who aren’t as analytical about your music, you may not even be able to put your finger on what makes it so different… you just know that it is.

I used to hate really heavy metal, particularly the sort with screaming. Then I heard Opeth. I heard some of the most talented musicianship I had heard in a very long time once I got over my prejudices. Hence, I’d like to make the argument that your favorite bands are always different in some way than everything you’ve heard before. This doesn’t take too much of a leap of faith. If you hear a new band just like everything you’ve heard before, what’s the point in listening? There must be something unique that really seizes your attention. Well, my example of Opeth is well placed. It’s because of Opeth I got into Disillusion. If you like Opeth, then you’ll certainly like Disillusion’s Back to Times of Splendor (2004). Then again, I can’t say the same for Disillusion’s latest album. Gloria (2006) is very much a concept album, but not in the way that Damnation (2003) was for Opeth. Damnation was a different album for Opeth because it took a single sonic mode already inherent in the band and focused only on that; i.e. it’s an album entirely out of their mellow side. Gloria, on the other hand, blew Disillusion’s sonic style to hell and back with a detour through the European industrial and gothic scene.

If you’ve never heard of Disillusion and just glossed over some samples of Gloria, you could assume they don’t fit your tastes. And if you’ve heard Back to Times of Splendor and then just glossed over some samples of Gloria, you could too easily assume they somehow lost it. In fact, both of these presumptions crossed my mind. But then I remembered that nearly all of the bands I’ve come to love challenged the status quo. That along with the fact that I couldn’t believe whoever created the masterpiece that is the album Back to TImes of Splendor could so quickly fall through the cracks. It took some getting used to, but the more I listened to Gloria, the more I loved it.

On the surface, Gloria seems to fit in some sort of industrial / gothic / electronica genre.  However, if you pay careful attention, you’ll learn that’s true… but it’s really a metal album at the core. If you pay enough attention that you stop trying to give this album a genre, you’ll notice it was very well written in terms of song structure and dynamics, and it has great musicians performing it. You’ll hear all the subtle qualities found in Back to Times of Splendor, just with a sonic facelift. Everything anyone does in this album only constructively adds to the album. Oh yeah, and it’s just as much of an incredible recording as Back to Times of Splendor. This is a sonic redefinition on the same scale as when Radiohead went from OK Computer (1997) to Kid A (2000). While most Radiohead fans probably wouldn’t appreciate a band like Disillusion since these are completely different bands, I believe the analogy is still very much appropriate. You don’t hear bands attempting to redefine themselves in this sort of manor all that often. I don’t believe that’s because it’s risky from a business point of view, and I don’t believe it’s because bands simply tend to choose not to do it. It’s very difficult to do.

I could write an entire editorial about the nuances of attempting a complete sonic redefinition, so I won’t bore you with the details (yet!) and I’ll get back on topic. I’m not sure I can succinctly express to what extent I love Gloria, but it’s not often that I hear an album so ground breaking that my review of it turns out to be full of general and fundamental ideals about music. I think this album will be hit or miss for most of you. It will challenge how you think metal should sound; so much so that you may even try to claim this isn’t really metal… but you’d be wrong. See, for me, this is the best kind of metal I never thought existed. To quote Disillusion’s MySpace page: this sounds like “David Lynch on Metal”.