CD Review: Disaffected - Rebirth

Written by Colin McNamara Tuesday, 03 July 2012 07:09

Artist: Disaffected
Title: Rebirth
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Release Date: 25th May 2012
Label: Massacre Records

Album Review

After a split that seemed like forever, DISAFFECTED are back with their sophomore effort that is quite a stretch from their debut from 1995, but it is for the better. The former Death/ Thrash outfit has adopted a more Technical Progressive Death Metal approach with their album ‘Rebirth,’ and it actually sounds quite tasteful and not bland at all or copying other popular groups out there. Many of the tracks hold the epic structure of clocking past six minutes, so the band has a lot of work ahead of them to keep listeners interested over that time span. Tracks like ‘C.ult O.f M.y A.shes’ have a bit of wordplay to make things interesting, but the music is the key. The bass shines through quite clearly on most of the song, something that is sadly lost in many Metal bands these days and its tapping tone helps with the overall jazzy progression of the guitars. The vocals switch between a low snarl and haunting spoken word poetry that is a unique touch, and the sci-fi keyboards mixed with the vocoders bring a dark, out of this world style that hasn’t felt this alien since THE FACELESS’ ‘Planetary Duality’. Other tracks like “Getting Into The Labyrinth” include creepy carnival chimes with children laughing and certainly add more to the twisted atmosphere with some female vocals to boot for melody.

There are some former Thrash elements of the earlier years in tracks like ‘Hypnotic Prophecy’ and ‘1460 Steps to Divine’, but even these have evolved past the typical repeated riffs and fast solos. The keyboards help enhance the track and the bass is still clear as even, though sometimes it sounds like it is clicking more than adding a deep reverb to the music. The solos on a track like ‘Steps To Divine’ are more complex and varied but still have that Thrashy tone of them with their speed and eventually fall back to the more repetitive, yet catchy verse structure of the riffs. The instrumentals are the slow parts of the album, such as the 70s synth and Metal guitar driven ‘Arrival’ or the classical piano tinged ‘Miracle Dance’ which certainly will shock listeners who were hoping for a full out Prog Death assault with no mercy whatsoever. It’s a bit of an out of place piece considering there isn’t any other track that holds as much melody, but it serves as a nice interlude before the heavier ‘Our Will’ which just explodes with Death Metal influence. Overall, this album is a great return for DISAFFECTED who have definitely been hard at work since their reformation in 2006. Listeners can tell the album was carefully crafted to be a masterpiece.


Tracklist

01. Mankwala (Intro) - 1:47
02. C.ult O.f M.y A.shes - 9:47
03. Getting into the Labyrinth - 8:18
04. Dreaming III (A Nightmare) - 9:04
05. Evilution Within - 7:03
06. Miracle Dance - 2:07
07. Our Will - 5:37
08. Hypnotic Prophecy - 8:01
09. The Rebirth of... - 6:10
10. 1460 Steps to Divine - 4:55
11. Arrival (Outro) - 3:45


Line-up

Sérgio Paulo- guitars, flute & French horn
António Gião- bass
Octávio Custódio- drums & backing vocals
José Costa- vocals
Rodrigo Domingues- keyboards


Website

https://www.facebook.com/disaffectedmetal


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10