A Lesson in Respect

I randomly picked up this album a few years ago in a used bin. I noticed the cover artwork and thought it looked like it might be decent. When I saw there was a cover of "Free Bird" I thought, what the hell, let's give it a try.

The first track, "Piss", starts the album off with a bang and sets the tone for what I thought was going to be an awesome album. Disarray, on this track, sound a bit like Pantera, albeit very much more pissed off. The guitars have an awesome southern tinge to them, without being too redneck (read they sound more metal than southern rock). The drums are tight, the riffs are pretty well developed and the bass is buried somewhere (I've yet to find it). The vocals are really the standout on this track; seething with anger and hatred, and yet the chorus does retain some melody. It's very odd though, the singer is very gruff and harsh, yet I can still understand the words. So, let's just say that the album started off with a bang.

After "Piss", you're confronted with ten mediocre songs, at least they say there's ten (it could be one track done over and over again). These ten songs all blend together and lose everything that made "Piss" a great track. The band keeps the southern tinge, but the riffs lose their appeal and are nearly identicle to each other. The bass is still buried. And the vocals, well, if monotone cookie monster, wanna-be tough guy vocals are your thing, then maybe you'll like it, but not me. It basically sounds like he's singing the same song ten times in a row. Where's the melody from the chorus of "Piss", well let's just say it packed up and left town.

Probably the only saving grace for these ten songs is the drummer. He plays some very interesting rhythms and does some pretty nifty rolls and intros, but as we all know, one instrument does not make an album.

At the end of the album we come to Disarray's rendition of "Free Bird" and what an utter abomination it is. I'll lay the good out on the table before I completely bash it. The guitar player does a great rendition of the song, the solo sounds great. The distortion is a little over the top, but it still works. Ok, the good is over, on to the horrible parts. The singer, just like every song except for "Piss", belts out this timeless tune in a monotone, gruff shout. He even changes the word "babe" to "bitch". A little bit of good, for humor, I guess. The bass is still buried. The drums are so-so. Nothing spectacular. It seems like the band just played the exact same music that was on the original. A drummer with that much talent should have added something interesting, a little fill or roll, but nothing new was presented. Basically we have a terrible singer, the same guitar line, only distorted, and the same drums. Interesting? Maybe a little, but only for the novelty factor. Overall it was terrible.

Disarray's "A Lesson in Respect" starts off with a great track, "Piss", and then completely drops the ball. Even such a great idea as covering "Free Bird" was shot to hell. If they would have diversified the vocal department, wrote some different riffs and brought the bass out a little, then maybe this would be a decent album. But as it stands, this album is terrible, and I cannot recommend it to any one.