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DISGRACE
True Enemy

Closed Casket Activities (2015)
Rating: 8/10

With its Dan Seagrave artwork I was expecting a full on old school death metal excursion. In a sense though, I’m glad this isn’t a mediocre act of mimicry, but it’s fair to say that there is some sort of influence from the deathlier genre. Even so, Disgrace is an interesting and bloody infectious bunch straight outta Southern California.

This is their debut album, and it’s one that offers a great deal with regards to metal extremity. Firstly, the guys formed in 2011 and in 2012 released their debut EP Songs Of Suffering. The men behind the sound are vocalist Taylor Young (who plays drums for Nails), guitarist Kyle Scott Thomas, bassist Leopoldo Orozco and drummer Michael Cesario. All four members also feature for the band Twitching Tongues.

And so with True Enemy we are in for a treat, because the quartet serves up a bruising cacophony that – although influenced by death metal – has a strong tendency to lean towards elements of grind and more so hardcore. This is such an interesting cauldron of styles that when the 30 minutes of the album were up, I was eager to slap it back on and dive in again.

I was first introduced to the album via the track ‘Slave To The Lead God’, which is a masculine mammoth of a tune featuring Taylor’s unhealthy chesty coughs and a riveting grinding guitar slog. Although the track stays mid-tempo, it just feels as if the posse is about to burst at the seams with angst and it’s all for the better that they don’t, meaning that the song becomes a well-crafted juggernaut. However, for those seeking extra hot sauce for their skinny-dipping then look no further than the frothing opener ‘True Enemy’, featuring that gnarly guitar sound again and those choppy raps of Young.

In a sense, it’s hardcore metal that would have been extremely popular in the mid to late 90s, such is its bruising and streetwise manner. The guys aren’t afraid to inject bouts of belligerence and speed either; again, with ‘True Enemy’ the band touches upon those death metal tones, while ‘No More Fools’ offers a thrashing rhythm and vocals dripping with anger. Often when I listen to new records it takes a few spins to really latch on, but this one had its claws in my brains straight away, possibly due to its slower expressions of menace. With so much metalcore splattering the metal genre, it’s great to hear a band successfully blend metal and hardcore but without bowing down to that sickly trend.

What we get are hostile bludgeoning with the likes of ‘Uncreation’ and ‘1000 Voices’, but it’s extreme metal which sounds as if it’s being played by members of old death metal bands and yet trying to do something different. ‘The Forgotten Land’ is a bruising lump of raging architecture that leaves severe marking on the temples with its rampant percussion, while ‘Bootlicker’ is another classy, mid-tempo lump featuring violent gang shouts and Young’s ever infectious barks.

True Enemy is an extremely threatening record from an energetic bunch that has somehow dredged the 90s for influence, and yet in no way sound dated or mere copycats. Instead, by fusing such extremity with their own passion, loves and anger, Disgrace have coughed up a memorable bulldozer sure to leave you black and blue.

Neil Arnold

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