Back to Times of Splendor

Back to Times of Splendor is the debut studio album by German progressive metal band Disillusion. It contains a concept-based story, written by Vurtox (Andy Schmidt); with each song dividing the story into separate conjoined sections (or chapters). The album received critical acclaim upon release and is considered by many to be a modern metal classic.

Back to Times of Splendor
Studio album by Disillusion
Released	April 6, 2004
Recorded	May–November, 2003 - Salvation Recording, Leipzig
Genre	Progressive metal Melodic death metal
Length	56:47
Label	Metal Blade Records
Producer	Vurtox
Disillusion chronology
The Porter (2002) Back to Times of Splendor (2004) Gloria (2006)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Obnoxious Listeners	[2]
Deliligin Daglari

Track listing

• All Songs Written By Disillusion.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"...And the Mirror Cracked"	8:27
2.	"Fall"	4:53
3.	"Alone I Stand in Fires"	6:53
4.	"Back to Times of Splendor"	14:39
5.	"A Day by the Lake"	4:53
6.	"The Sleep of Restless Hours"	17:02
Total length:		56:47

Personnel

Disillusion

• Vurtox (Andy Schmidt) − vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, orchestral arrangements
• Rajk Barthel − guitar
• Jens Maluschka − drums

Additional musicians

• Thomas Bremer − piano on "... And the Mirror Cracked"
• Matthias Schifter − fretless bass on "And the Mirror Cracked" and "A Day by the Lake"
• Denise Schneider − female voice on "Fall" and "The Sleep of Restless Hours"
• Stefan Launicke − piano intro on "Back to Times of Splendor" strings on "The Sleep of Restless Hours"
• Alex Tscholakov − drum loops and percussion on "Alone I Stand in Fires"

Production

• Recorded May through Nov. 2003 by Vurtox and Jan Stצlzel at Salvation Recording, Leipzig
• Vocals and acoustic guitars recorded by Alexander Tscholakov
• Mixed by Alexander Tscholakov, Vurtox and Disillusion during December to January 2003 at TAM Recordings
• Mastered at Mastersound Studio (Fellbach) January 2004 by Alexander Krull and Disillusion