Disillusion (band)

Disillusion is a German progressive metal band from Leipzig.

History

The beginnings without record deal

Disillusion was founded in 1994 by Andy Schmidt, Tobias Spier, Alex Motz, Markus Espenhain and Jan Stölzel. The band played Thrash Metal. Despite the departure of bassist Markus Espenhain in early 1996, the first demo Subspace Insanity was recorded in March the same year.

1997 followed Red, where the band already developed their own style. The second demo was mixed and mastered by Andy Schmidt and Alex Tscholakov at TAM Recording in Zwickau. Despite growing local success and the prospect of the band becoming more serious, Disillusion was put on hold because of lack of time of some band members.^[1]

With joining of guitarist Rajk Barthel and drummer Jens Maluschka in 1999 and 2000 Disillusion started again. They played some concerts and recorded their third demo Three Neuron Kings in summer 2001 (again with Alex Tscholakov at TAM Recording). The record received positive reviews by the music press. In spring of 2002 Disillusion went on tour again and won an EP production at the Legacy Band Contest. The record was recorded at TAM Recording in 2002 and called The Porter. It also reached international reputation in the music press and attracted the attention of larger labels.

Back To Times of Splendor

Disillusion signed a contract with Metal Blade Records and released the first album Back to Times of Splendor in 2004. Stylistically, the music is mostly located in Progressive Death Metal. Back to Times of Splendor was very well received by the critics. The Rock Hard even spoke of a hot contender for the title "Debut of the Year."^[2]

After the release Disillusion performed at several festivals (including Summer Breeze Open Air) and a European tour as support for Amon Amarth and Impious. During this time, the album was presented in special shows together with Leipzig musicians from Dark Suns and Unloved.^[3]

Gloria

The successor named Gloria was released on October 20, 2006. With the album, Disillusion entered new musical territory and relied heavily on distorted vocals as well as electronic sounder elements. The latter was developed mainly by the production duo Philipp Hirsch and Heiko Tippelt of film-m. The new album showed a clear change of style compared to the predecessor. Disillusion did not want stylistically a successor to Back To Times of Splendor, because from the perspective of the band in the album everything was said. This is evident in the Gloria song "Save the Past".^[4] Fans and reviewers took Gloria very controversially. After the release Disillusion played European-wide concerts, although this time the band did not play a cohesive tour but played several individual shows as headliners.^[5]

Post Gloria and hiatus

On December 8, 2009, Andy Schmidt announced that the band had been separated from guitarist Rajk Barthel.^[6] At the end of 2010, Sebastian Hupfer joined the band as new guitar player. in 2011 some shows were played. This was followed by a hiatus, which Andy Schmidt explained with private challenges of the individual band members.^[7]

Alea: Comeback

In the year 2015 a fan asked the band to play an exclusive concert in Vienna. After Matthias Becker was no longer available because of his band SAFI, the French bassist Djon joined the band. Until then he played in a local project called echo.mensch together with Sebastian Hupfer.^[8] On May 29, 2015 Disillusion played Back to Times of Splendor for the first time in a row in Vienna. There were further shows in Germany and a final comeback concert in the sold-out Werk 2 in Leipzig on December 4, 2015.^[9] The new ten minute single Alea was presented live for the first time.^[10] In April 2016, Ben Haugg was officially introduced as a new bass player, as Djon had to return to France due to private obligations.^[11] On October 7, 2016 Alea was released digitally and as a CD via Kick the Flame Publishing (the publisher of the former guitarist Rajk Bartel). There followed a mini-tour at the end of the year through Germany and Austria. An album is to follow.

Work on third album

In March 2017 Disillusion announced that they start working on their third album. Just for this Andy Schmidt went to a small cabin in the woods somewhere in the Czech Republic for 3 weeks to work undisturbed on new songs. ^[12] At the same time the band asked for support via Patreon to finance the production. The first goal - support for Andy - was reached within 2 days. The band then announced to complete the third album within 12 months.^[13]

Trivia

The band is directed by Mastermind Andy Schmidt. At least since Back to Times of Splendor, he is responsible for the production and majority of the creative output.

For a long time Disillusion had no permanent bass player (this was compensated live by a bass playalong). Only in 2005 a suitable live bassist could be engaged with Ralph Willis. The first fixed bassist was Matthias Becker in 2008.

After the departure of Jens Maluschka in the beginning of 2007, the old friend and studio recording engineer Alex Tscholakov was supposed to be the new drummer of Disillusion. However, he hurt his hand after the announcement of his accession and had to be replaced by Clemens Frank for the upcoming live shows until the return of Jens.

Band members

Current members

• Andy Schmidt: vocals/guitar/keyboards (1994–present)
• Sebastian Hupfer: guitar (2010–present)
• Ben Haugg: bass guitar (2016 – present)
• Jens Maluschka: drums (2000–2007, 2008−present)

Past members

• Tobias Spier: vocals, guitar (1994–1997)
• Alex Motz drums: (1994–1997)
• Clemens Frank: drums: (live only, 2007)
• Markus Espenhain: bass guitar (1994–1996)
• Jan Stölzel: keyboard (1994–1997)
• Ralf Willis: bass guitar (2005)
• Shya Hely: backing vocals (live only, 2005)
• Alex Tscholakov: drums (2007–2008)
• Alla Fedynitch: bass guitar (live only, 2007–2008)
• Rajk Barthel: guitar (1999–2009)
• Matthias Becker: bass guitar (2008-2015)
• Djon: Bass guitar (2015)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Back to Times of Splendor (2004)
• Gloria (2006)

Demos and EPs

• Rehearsal (1995) (demo)
• Subspace Insanity (1996) (demo)
• Red (1997) (demo)
• Three Neuron Kings (2001) (EP)
• Alea (2016) (EP)^[14]

Singles

• The Porter (2002) (single)
• Alea (2016) (single)

Other

• Fate of Norns Release Shows (2004) (split album including; Amon Amarth, Fragments of Unbecoming and Impious)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official MySpace page
• Obnoxious Listeners: Back to Times of Splendor | Disillusion