In the Face of the Enemy

Disarray has got to be one of the most under appreciated bands I have ever come across. In today's metal scene a lot of bands seem to concentrate on adding a bleak atmosphere to the heavy metal formula and quite often atmospherics seem to overtake sheer power (not that this is a bad thing), however Disarray don't compromise themselves at all, riff after riff of great metal. Power over atmosphere.

What we have here is a hybrid of say Justice-era Metallica, some of the "half thrash" (to borrow a term from Boris) of Pantera, and the plain groove style riffing of the likes of Black Sabbath and Down, all with a very slight crossover influence, with some of the songs having a slight punky charm to them in the way DRI did at times. I guess the closest album to compare this to is Corrosion of Conformity's "Blind" but even that is still quite far out.

The vocals are fantastic, some of the best I've heard. Aggressive and rough, but by no means "death" at all. The drums pound along at a middle pace, and set the tempo for some AWESOME mid paced breakdown riffing (see Voice of Reason, Neverending Quest For Revenge). Guitar solos are present here but not on every song, but to be honest not every song needs the guitar solos, the riffs alone are enough to get the band through.

Highlights include Voice of Reason, To This Day and the fantastic acoustic track Life is Gone. Chuck Bonnett pours his heart out in this very "southern" sounding song, fantastic.

Overall this album is INCREDIBLY underappreciated, an absolute gem. I can only hope for more of this type of stuff from the band in the future.