Disbelief "Spreading the Rage" CD
[Nuclear Blast]
This German act's been around for more than 10 years now, but this is the first time I've heard 'em. Not bad, I must say. I'd be curious to know how this compares to their early work, as this is ultra polished and heavy material that's sort of like an early Machine Head-ish take on death/thrash metal, but with a lot of subtle atmospheric influences swirling around in there. Most of the rhythms are fairly simple rhythmic chord progressions with underlying dissonance and at times even elements that I could view as post-hardcore, but the screaming lead vocals sound like old Morgoth to me - more of a death metal vein. "To the Sky" opens with a midpaced thrash break that has a little bit of a modern groove, but then continues to a slightly more off kilter set of chords and slick discordant arpeggios. Hell, you know what? In a lot of ways this sounds like a thicker and more groove-based Morgoth circa "Odium" - perhaps no coincidence as both bands are German? That vibe is definitely at work here though, as there are a few spoken vocal passages, some darker passages that let clean guitars seep in, etc. "No More Lies" even layers singing vocals with screaming, and it really creates some fucking insane results. "Death Will Score" is faster and also messes with some weird little arpeggiated riffs, but the chords are more obviously melodic and damn near upbeat in a way, making for a really memorable track. "Democracy" surprisingly takes the unusual writing stance further with a borderline catchy chorus, as well as some layered acoustic/electric guitars. "Addiction" has a weird rocked out lead break in it that doesn't fit at all, but aside from that they blend their influences quite effortlessly. The recording is pretty fuckin' good, especially for this style. It's loud as hell, extremely full and dense, and very well mixed. The rhythm section sounds far better than average, the guitars are ever so slightly overproduced at times (but totally immense), the vocals are clear and awesomely textured... I don't think I have any complaints at all. I really love how everything is so clear but also so damn thick! The layout's not working for me. It looks professional, but there's way too much of an emphasis on cheesy band photos - closeup shots of grimacing faces and shit. Hell, the booklet folds out into an enormous six-panel spread, and one side is all taken up by one huge shot of the members' faces side by side. Lyrically I'm also disinterested, and things are stripped down and overly basic, with way too much repetition: "Awake, awake, awake, awake, Addiction, Seeking - stunning my pain... Addiction, Seeking - stunning my pain... Pain, pain, pain, pain!" I mean, come on... pretty much every track contains a passage that's about that redundant. Thankfully the vocal screams are so over the top that you can't understand much, and the songwriting certainly masks the lyrical redundancies. Really the only problem with this record as far as the music goes is that there are some boring songs that only add to its unnecessarily long running time. There are easily three or four songs that could be dropped to cut 15 minutes from the running time and make for a more appetizing full-length. I have to admit that this is way better and entirely different than I thought it would be. I'll be very curious to see what this band does in the future because I imagine this is a departure from their early work, and it's quite close to being truly impressive. (7/10)
Running time - 56:42, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: To the Sky, Death Will Score, Back to Life]
Disbelief - http://www.disbelief.de

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