Illusion & Disbelief
Original Release Date: 10/14/2666
Wizards are rare in the Universe. A nomadic-sort, they can be quite friendly, especially if provided with their favorite sweet breads and pipe flowers. But there is a thin line between wizard and warlock. Warlocks weren't born evil; they were shaped this way by the societies that shunned them, feared their conjurings, and exiled them from some of the most friendly and progressive planets in the void. Illusion & Disbelief were not all wizards, just their drummer, Inglott. At first, they had not noticed it: the long beard, the crooked hat, the folksy wisdom. It was not until a terrible gig at the Pendulum Club (noted for its raucous and hard-to-please crowd) that his wizardry appeared. After a glass bottle was hurled at the band, heading straight for their lead keyboardist, Inglott's drumsticks erupted in glistening dust, shattering the bottle before it could strike. The crowd was furious, for they were notoriously anti-wizard. The band escaped with the help of Inglott's powerful sticks, but there were many questions still yet unanswered. The short answer was that Inglott's brother, Onglott, a corrupted warlock, was searching the Universe for him to destroy him. Inglott had used the cover of Illusion & Disbelief to hide from his sibling, but this latest incident would undoubtedly draw a fiery wrath. And, dear Audionauts, did it. On the run, the band's journey to hide Inglott became the foundation for VI/VI/VI, the most melodic and focused album in their catalog. After the hypnotic Smoke & Mirrors & Smoke, they knew they had stumbled across a winning formula of haunting synth and punctuating drums that wafted in the air like a smoke ring, hurtling forward only to dissipate from whence it came. The evolution of the VI/VI/VI was not all skill and patience but rather the result of life on the run. Eventually, Onglott tracked down his brother, his magic glorifying him in the body of a fearsome reptile with wings, soaring above the rocky crag, breathing blue and green plasma that scorched the forests and boiled the lakes and rivers. With his magic never reaching the heights of his brother, Inglott could rely only on the tastiest of beats, the band standing tall against the fearsome beast, and, as the story goes, taming it with a start-to-finish performance of VI/VI/VI. Tragically, though, Onglott, under the spell of the music, drifted from the clouds straight into the belly of a volcano, ending his life. Whether that was for the betterment of the universe, we cannot say, as the lullaby effect could have transformed him into the wizard he once was. Devastated by his actions, Inglott, too, hurled himself into the belly of the volcano, taking his drumsticks with him and putting an end to what might have been an origin story of similar evil. Illusion & Disbelief disbanded shortly after that and offered the masses their final work for free. To benefit from the death of their beloved drummer seemed cruel and unusual. They just hoped that this would be a lesson to all: to treat each other with humility and respect and perhaps find a little extra piece of sweet bread or pipe flower for a traveler who, too, might be at odds with the Universe.
Side A
Journey From Night
Broken Footsteps
Cap & Gown
Sweet Leaves
Side B
The Final Misbelief
Abandoned in the Valley
Soul Stones
How Do You Prove That You Exist?