Disillusion Bio

In the year 2001, singer, guitarist and studio bassist Vurtox joined forces with Jens Maluschka (drums) and Rajk Barthel (guitar), breathing new life into the band DISILLUSION, which had been inactive for three years. A new band was born to create their very own fusion of death, thrash, black and progressive metal, very soon becoming Germany's hottest newcomers on the extreme metal scene.

Before the end of 2001 DISILLUSION recorded the 4-track demo "Three Neuron Kings", which immediately caused a stir in the German underground. Among other things, the band was named Newcomer of the Month in Metal Heart magazine and won the "Support the Underground" band contest sponsored by Legacy magazine.

In August 2002 the MCD "The Porter" was released on Voice Of Life Records, gaining the band some well-deserved international recognition. DISILLUSION was subsequently signed to Metal Blade Records.

A new chapter began in the band's history…

Soft facts: Alone I Stand In Fires - The Spirit Of Splendor
Led by mastermind Vurtox, the band took over a year and a half to write and eight months to record what seems like a virtual world. Inside this world, a moving story of passion and drama unfolds in wild, bizarre and romantic landscapes: grandiose feelings, inexorable destinies, triumph and tragedy.

"Back To Times Of Splendor" is DISILLUSION's first full-length album. It is the soundtrack to this story.

It's not necessary to explain the story - it's there to grasp by just listening to the album: big cinema inside the mind, in widescreen and cinemascope. A large amount of breaks can be found in each song, but never sounding forced or unnatural. The music flows through picturesque landscapes, sometimes roaring powerfully through bizarre canyons, sometimes clashing with massive boulders, sometimes flowing through epic valleys of green.

The tried and tested foundation on which the whole is built is the technical guitar work for which DISILLUSION are already well known. Add to this some stunningly varied vocals: hectic screams, surprisingly intelligible grunts, elegiac clear vocals, which are nothing but pop music in its most positive meaning, and, last but not least, sophisticated polyphonic choirs.

All this is held together by daring arrangements, which integrate a wide array of computer generated sounds into the mix. Especially prominent are the strings - for example, the celestial violin in the title track, which in its sheer complexity seems to be the monolithic centre of the sound massif. 14 minutes and 38 seconds length are compressed to a fraction in the subjective listening experience due to its compactness. Not only the sound was condensed, so was the time!

Catchy hooklines are all over the place - the charts could be filled with them for weeks on end. But DISILLUSION has withstood the temptation of burning out these flashes of melodic brilliance in endless loops. This way the melody lines sound purer and never get worn out.

The production process was hard and demanding. Boundaries were reached, pushed and crossed. The band took the time to be spontaneous, but used it also to perfect even the slightest detail. No less than four release dates had to be postponed, which is not the way things usually work on a debut album. But in the end, there are things that need their time, something that the responsible people at the record label had to acknowledge as well.

The final product lies before us. It more than justifies those long nights, the doubts and the desperation.

They stood alone in fires. From the fires, a diamond has risen:

Onwards to Times Of Splendor!