Review of Disinter - As We Burn

Not exactly a label full of stellar bands, Morbid Records managed to surprise with the rather decent Dark Disciple “Unholy Hate Gore” offering a while ago, but after viewing the cover of this album, I thought Morbid might go back to their mediocre selves. Hailing from Chicago, (this is not the polish Dissenter), these old school veterans (this is their 5th album) deathsters create a far more European take on death metal, and once I absorbed the material several times, and with the fiery imagery of the cover floating in my head, one band came to mind: Aeternus, notably Burning the Shroud (although mainly because of the cover).

Unexpectedly good, Disinter deliver a solid unabashed album of slightly black/death metal. Not the scathing, biting polish of say Council of the Fallen or Unholy Ghost, but a far grimier, dirtier…ballsier sound rooted in European death metal. Now this isn’t going to be on any year end lists, or even possibly garner much attention amid a genre awash with sheer brutality, but is a satisfying solid effort with some restraint and melody, that makes it a pleasant yet still savage break from the Unique Leader style of death metal. There’s some thrash metal buried in here, but the album never steps into the retro/throwback style of black/death, instead with a stout production, it just competently rumbles along with a few rollicking blast beats and plenty of tempo changes.

After the short and sharp, but ineffectual opener “Go Away and Rot!”, the title track is the first track that grabs your attention with a black/thrash, decisive urgency, albeit brief. However, Disinter display their lengthier side with the more traditional, death metal paced, six minute “Black Seas of Infinity”, which contains a surprising amount of varied depth for a band whose imagery is wreathed in bullet belts and fire. The riff at 4:40 is classic death metal at its 1994 best. The black/thrash grit returns for “Born To Darkness” and “Murals of Horror” and while rousing tracks, when you compare them to the far more entertaining and varied “Dig Me No Grave”, they don’t stand up. The nearly 7-minute track, explores all facets of death metal at a pretty competent level, with shifting, menacing structures rather than balls-out singular paced thrash cantering, and again, the riff and subsequent solo starting at 3:38 is death metal gold from yore. Even more depth is displayed for the almost upbeat “A Curse of Pain and Hate”, which has a melodic intro riff that borders on Swedish melodeath. The acoustic reprise of the title track, titled “Inferno” was a needless tack on gimmick full of familiar samples, I would have preferred it integrated into one lengthy title track.

The Aeternus comparison can be made in so much that Disinter have the same low end and rumbling riffs with a dash of black metal, complete with their European song writing style. The comparison is compounded by vocalist Zion who is a dead ringer for Ares’ powerful bellow, again differing from the preferred burps and gurgles of their US counterparts.

I ended up giving this album a surprising amount of listens even with my other reviewing obligations, despite the fact it only stands as a 'decent’ album, it has an appeal that makes it a refreshing change from 500bpm death metal.

One word: Solid.

Release Details

Disinter

As We Burn

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