Death Machines

Disabuse, a name pretty much any Dutch metal fan born before 1978 is familiar with (at least ). Disabuse was a crossover act from the late eighties, playing that typical blend of thrash and hardcore popular at the time but far less comical than fellow countrymen Radical Retard.

Disabuse were on the ‘angry side’ of the spectrum. The band got some national fame when their debut album 'Sorrow And Perdition' was named ‘album of the week’ on the national Dutch radioshow ‘Vara’s Vuurwerk’. Over the years Disabuse have become somewhat of a forgotten name, partially because they disbanded and reunited several times but mostly because they never lived up to the promise of the first LP/EP.

But they are back! Once again. This time with new vocalist Steven Tolkamp. Now we are talking about a vocalist who did Faith No More covers as well as Pantera (or so I've read). So you know this will be more than your average pissed off punk behind the mic (which I actually like a lot). Also, the instrumentalists here have grown exponentially as musicians!

BUT, to be honest, when I first heard ‘Death Machine’ it didn’t sound anything like the band that released 'Sorrow and Perdition' in 1989. In essence this is a bad thing. Why on earth use an old band name if your new material doesn’t sound like the original band? But then I saw them live. And they played old an new songs side by side and it all made sense. For some reason this band really comes to life on stage. It just works.

But I will now focus on the new album (only 33 mins) ‘Death Machine’. Personally, I am actually not sure if I like these new vocals on an album. They're often a bit 'too nineties' and un-European for me. Tolkamp is a good vocalist but in my opinion Wamelink's vocals on 'Sorrow and Perdition', which sounded more like Mille Petrozza on the first two Kreator albums, were more suiting for crossover and much less 'Pantera'. In other words, I prefer pissed of thrash vocals over 'bad boy' vocals. But as said, in the live enviroment Tolkamp sounds more like a lightweight death metal vocalist. So the band shines more on stage than right here.

‘Detonate’ is one of the best songs here. This is crossover of the purest kind. Great riffs (the opening riff being blatantly copied from Atrophy but nevertheless addictive) and the bassguitar is up in the mix as it should be with good crossover. Same goes for ‘Grease the Guillotine’. An excellent 1:16 mins short crossover monster. ‘Dirt’ is also pure crossover yet a somewhat longer song. This one however works better in the live environment though.

The title track recalls the very Dutch sounding combination of thrash meets death metal with harmonic guitars and semi-melodies as Acrostichon played on their second album ‘Sentenced’ (1995). Changes in pace are all over. And the vocalist here really sounds like Cowboys-era Pantera. Now this tendency to throw in doom metal parts ‘the Acrostichon way’ also shines in ‘Dogma I’. After a doomy intro the band explodes into total Slayer worship. Another superb song!

On the intro to ‘We Bring Democracy’ one thinks the band has been replaced by nineties grunge band number 9734. No worries, the good stuff comes in after 33 second already. Grunge post-thrash? Yes, it is possible and Disabuse here mixes Pantera with Alice in Chains. Very surprising coming from a band that was mixing Slayer with Acrostichon only a few songs earlier.

Speaking of Pantera. If you like that band, you’ll love ‘The Lost Children’. The song sounds like Anthrax in 2007-2008 when they had that Anselmo-imitator Dan Nelson on vocals (just look it up on youtube) and, just like ‘Dirt’, this is a song which works fine on stage in between old songs but unfortunately is not as entertaining on record.

Disabuse take it all just too far on ‘River Runs Red.’ Yes, the title immediately makes you think of Life Of Agony and this song does have that very nineties groove vibe. However the songs takes that nineties groove slightly back to its seventies origins. The riffs and some vocal lines are pure Black Sabbath worship. It’s impressive the band can pull this off and it is a good song. But in between the other material it simply does not make any sense at all. None.

All in all we can conclude Disabuse used to be a crossover band in the late eighties, playing a mixture of thrash and hardcore punk and these days they play a mixture of groove metal and death metal with extra melody thrown in and with only sporadic hints at their more furious past. They are a great live act but on album I must admit I am a bit underwhelmed by the lack of direction ‘Death Machine’ is suffering from. I had much higher expectations.