Disavowed "Stagnated Existence"

Tracklist: 01. Biased Existence 02. Treason 03. Collateral Causality 04. Restricted Conceptions 05. The Infinite Multiplicity 06. The Eternal Validity 07. Divided By Condemn 08. Stagnated 09. Dogmatic Conceit 10. The Veils Of Misconception Release: 2007 Genre: Brutal Death Metal URL: www.disavowed.nl Label: www.neurotic-records.com

After Robbe V. was forced to leave the band because of his injury, which was also the reason Pyaemia called it quit it was a little silent around Disavowed. In the meantime Despondency drummer Dirk Janssen helped them out a little but this was also not from long duration. The search for a drummer who could replace Robbe V. with dignity continued for some time unsuccessfully. But every search has an end and this was also the case with Disavowed. The new maniac behind the drums is named Romain Goulon and damn I can tell you all this guy is blasting like he's on speed or some other stuff. However this blasting is always precisely and does not sound like it's not fitting with the rest at any time. With a new drummer in the luggage it can go on with a further bomb that strikes directly into the face after "Perceptive Reception" did that already. Well this is not exactly the case here. I can tell everybody who was hoping for another killer track like "Rhizome" that this is not the case because Disavowed became adults and are representing themselves on "Stagnated Existence" with a completely new style. This one is more coming in the technical way and can be compared with bands like Deeds Of Flesh or Decrepit Birth at some parts. You can find some riffs here and there through which you have to think inevitably simply of tracks from the last Deeds Of Flesh album called "Crown Of Souls" while the drum sound is sometimes so fast that one becomes proper dizzy, like it's also the case with Decrepit Birth. But Disavowed has not become a clone of any technical Brutal Death Metal band. Rather the opposite is happening here. The new album is sounding fresh and very variedly. This is reflecting in the riffs, which have much to offer like fast and slower technical parts as well as some slam riffs and also it's reflecting in the vocals from Robbe K. These are not sounding that much aggressive and guttural here like it was the case on the predecessor but I'm sure that this would not suitably have worked. Robbe K. is more showing us all here that he's able to vary with his vocals. There are deep growls, some more guttural growls and from time to time some extremely guttural gargling vocals, which reminding me a little bit to the latest works of bands like Despondency or Defeated Sanity. To this the aspect comes that depending on the speed change the vocals are offered sometimes faster and sometimes slower, what additionally still contributes some alternation. Lyrically they are still dealing with philosophy, evolution and psychology and also the cover artwork and the layout where adapted according to these topics. Instead of another cover with barbwire or something else this time we have an extremely great cover made by Par Olofsson. Besides the cover of the last Psycroptic this one is for sure my personal favorite artwork from Par Olofsson. Indeed this disc is also just running for 32 minutes but the band itself was conscious and so they added a huge multimedia part to this album for further maintenance. This one is coming along with 7 videos which include a new video clip for the opening track "Biased Existence", drum solo and live videos as well as an interesting making of video. The quality of these videos reaches from ok (NRW Deathfest) to great (video clip). Additionally this album is dispelled through Neurotic Records as slipcase version. I don't' know if this one is limited in any way but actually this isn't really important in the end. Remains mentioning still that Robbe K. also produced this album and he also did the mixing and mastering. Summarizing one can say that "Stagnated Existence" will chop the fan base into two corners because a lot of people would have never counted on a so glaring style change. Personally I really like this new style of Disavowed more than the older one because it's more variedly and because of that even more fresh. And in times where a lot of so called newcomer Death Metal bands are submerging the scene with always the same scheme (BREEEEEE) it is good to have a band like Disavowed who is showing more than only clearly that it can function also differently. Beneath bands like Inveracity, Despise, Cephalic Carnage and Syphilic this one is definitely my favorite for the album of the year.

Rating: 92 % | from ScYthe | Date: 03.06.07 | Time: 18:35	shut down