Dusk Of Delusion: COrollarian RObotic SYStem [CO.RO.SYS] (2022)

Formed in 2016, Dusk of Delusion brought together members of Akroma, Forsaken World, La Horde, Elvaron and RedLine, who have already released two concept albums and in 2022 returned with their third. Benoit Guillot (vocals), Jean-Gabriel Bocciarelli (guitar), Julien Skorka (bass), Matthieu Morand (guitar, synths) and Natan Gengenbacher (drums). ‘COrollarian RObotic SYStem’ takes us to a dark and disturbing dystopian future where after an armed conflict in Europe, the COROSYS company floods the world with its “Corollaires”: anthropomorphic robots that quickly become the dregs of this new society. It is based on a short story written by Guillot, where after the civil war in Europe during the 2050’s, the Russian firm COROSYS put on the market anthropomorphic organic robots called corollaries. Initially designed to be soldiers, the corollaries soon become personal assistants that everyone can buy to replace them in the various tasks of daily life. Little by little the corollaries will even be recruited to occupy professions abandoned by the humans of this new society: waiter, ripper, prostitute,…

The concept is certainly an interesting one, although not exactly new to anyone interested in science fiction (it is strange to think that Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics were first published more than 80 years ago). I only have a CD inside a cardboard promo sleeve (takes me back to the 90’s when many promos were sent this way), but the promo sheet that came with it has information to go with each song about the story, as well as QR codes to enable the listener to read the story itself, so can only hope this is all available on the released version, as one certainly does not get all of that from the music and lyrics. This is progressive metal with the emphasis on the metal, and while they may well have been inspired by the likes of Ayreon, the approach is rather clumsy and without the finesse the subject requires. There is plenty of crunch, but the dynamics are not what they should be and there is the impression that the band are now really able to musically do the story justice in the way they wish, and instead of finesse they just provide more riffs. I would have liked the keyboards to have had a much larger impact, as they are not utilised enough, while Guillot is attempting to do too much which his vocals and there are times when it just sounds as if he is in pain and instead of providing multiple parts it may well have been better to have brought in some guests to help out.

The result is something where the idea behind it is actually much better than the delivery, and I doubt if this is anything to which I will quickly be returning.

Rating: 6/10