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Disgod: Sanguine scales

05/05/10 || Altmer

Byelorussia (also known as Belarus, White Russia) is not a country known for metal. Probably, in that country, metal gets suppressed with the proverbial Iron Fist, belonging to whatever dictatorship is walking around and beating the crap out of people that disagree in that country (isn’t Lukashenko the cuntface still in power there? I think he is). But fortunately, somehow, probably shipped through a lot of sneaky underground oil pipes, smeared with the stench of sweat and beer that the always able-bodied Communist Bloc workers provide, a death metal CD has made its way to the Netherlands. And this cunt here is about to review it.

First thing I notice is that the runtime is only 30 minutes. When an album has a short timespan and isn’t an EP, that usually means a frantic assault of some sort – and that’s exactly what Belarus serves us. Seriously, this is the only Belorussian band I know, and they’re making quite an alright impression. The name of the game is death mixed with thrash, and of the frantic kind. There’s lots of double bass around here, and it sounds a bit like a cross between Vader and Death (only not as amazing as either of those two). What’s not to like? Not very much, it would seem. Unfortunately, I was kind of wrong on this count. The fact remains that this is an alright album marred by some very distracting problems.

You see, the production on this album is a bit two-faced. The good part is that the bass is audible in parts, and that the guitars sound decently meaty enough. But the big problem is the snare drum. When hit it makes a sound like a glass being rubbed on the inside. Eh? Ehhhhh? What kind of snare sound is that? It reminded me of the fateful St. Anger snare sound. That is one absolutely awfully tuned snare, guys. Why did no one tell them you can’t seriously put this on an album? These guys aren’t Metallica, so any producer could and should have told them off for this complete failure of a drum sound.

The other pros of this album: the vocals sound like evil Chucky S. They really remind me of Death at their prime, “Human” era that would be. The problem is that the other good part, the groovy, fat riffs, shifting between thrash and death metal, are completely ruined by that fantastically awful snare drum sound. Every groove they get going gets ruined by that sound. It kind of pisses me off because with a better production this would probably sound pretty good, now the song structures get completely lost in the drumming mess that is this album. In this chaos there’s no real songs to speak of, just Chuck Schuldiner growling over Vader riffs with a bad drum sound. That kind of ruins the point of playing a good genre, guys. If you can play good music, why do you record it so crappily? This is good music (although bland) that you’re playing, so why make it sound awful? This way, I’m not going to put your album on again even though what you’re playing is all fine just because you can’t sell it to the listener like this.

If you like deathrash from a foreign country that nobody has ever heard of, do indulge, but keep in mind that if you ever want to be appreciated by any drum fanatic, do NOT put on this album in front of them and expect them to take you seriously. I like this to some extent, but a lot less than I would if it sounded better, and I think the fact that the songs are indistinguishable from each other doesn’t really help with this. Okay songs with a bad drum sound leave my first taste of these Eastern Europeans somewhat disappointed. Damn.

5,5

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Possession Productions
Website: Disgod MySpace
Band
SP: vocals, guitar
Ogrish: bass
Bes Trefoil: drums

Tracklist
01. Rising Hate
02. Spasm
03. Grind Peace
04. Undercover Enslavement
05. For the Transient
06. Mirror of Mors
07. Stabbin’ With a Nail
08. Ghouls
09. To Shoot to Be
10. The Killed
11. Sharp
12. The Ancient Dreamer

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