### Disavowed: Stagnated existence

#### 05/07/07 || The Duff

Neurotic Records is starting to be affiliated with two things: the providing of incredibly shit service and the signing of incredibly talented bands. With Dutch metallers Disavowed, the label continues its trend of delivering the goods and taking five months to do so. Although what Disavowed have to offer has been heard many times in the past, these guys have a knack for knowing what works and what doesn’t due to death metal’s 20 year history of success and failure, otherwise known as Morbid Angel and Six Feet Under, respectively, and as such remain at the very least a worthy listen.

What you get with Disavowed is a band that takes its influences from Morbid Angel, Deeds of Flesh and Suffocation, delivers absolutely nothing remarkable and yet may still deserve a moment or two of your time due to its dedication to the scene – this album has many a flaw, and a lot of the music may seem a little bland to those of you who think death metal died out ten years ago, but “Stagnated Existence” (a bit of an unfortunate title, I might add, when considering the music) is also an album with a lot of heart.

If I had received this album three months ago, I would have been all over the thing (*hint* don’t take half a year to deliver a fucken album!/*hint*), but at this moment in time I’m experiencing a death metal overload phase, where nothing really kicks me quite as hard as the classic stuff, so there’s little point in me venturing for any new bands unless they are truly exceptional (truth be told, the album artwork won me over) – this ain’t the case with Disavowed.

This lacks a lot of feeling – it’s just blast out the riffs in about as little time as possible with minimal variation (the drumming certainly doesn’t help this album’s digestibility, as although Romain Goulon is a talented guy, his style is simply a matter of hyper-speed blasts with occasional fills and a lot of kickwork; rather unstimulating, if you ask me). What’s more, many riffs are rehashed throughout the album, making me think that maybe they tried to stretch out the material they had prepared before entering the studio far beyond what it’s actually worth.

My one final gripe is that these guys use way too much gain. For a start, it makes the material a bit much to take in, as a lot of the riffs aren’t so crystal clear; it also raises doubts as to how capable Bij and Broek are as musicians, as some errors in their playing could well be drowned out (Nils Berndsen, on the other hand, is an exceptionally talented musician, and the sound awarded to the bass leaves little doubt of this).

So, a review filled with negatives; I guess that I just don’t have much time for this stuff anymore; I’m also a little pissed for having to wait a short lifespan for something that ain’t really all that special. However, this is still a decent album – Disavowed know how to play good death metal. I would recommend checking out their MySpace page first, then asking yourself whether it’s worth a six month wait for something you probably already own.

I want to give this a seven, and I would usually put my not doing so down to the fact that I’m an utter bastard; the truth is that despite the top-notch musicianship (which is debatable), “Stagnated Existence” just doesn’t deserve anything above a mediocre rating. Good if recycled riffs, uninspired arrangements/drumming, and impressive musicianship that may or may not be as extraordinary as it sounds due to a somewhat sickly production is your thing; otherwise, stay away.

On a sidenote, yet another phenomenal piece of work by Par Olofsson, and kudos to the whole bunch of extra goodies Neurotic chucked in with the CD (multiple live performances, a “making of” the CD and the video for “Biased Existence”) – outstanding to say the least.

6 “mehs” (the Stephen Fallen way) out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Neurotic Records
- Website: www.disavowed.nl
- Band
- Rob K: vocals
- Gerben van der Bij: guitars
- Daniel van den Broek: guitars
- Nils Berndsen: bass
- Romain Goulon: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Biased Existence
- 02. Treason
- 03. Collateral Causality
- 04. Restricted Conceptions
- 05. The Infinite Multiplicity
- 06. The Internal Validity
- 07. Divided by Condemn
- 08. Stagnated
- 09. Dogmatic Conceit
- 10. The Veils of Misconception