AN NCS PREMIERE: DISLOYAL — “GODLESS”

 

About one week ago we had the pleasure of premiering a new song by Poland’s Disloyal from their new fourth album, Godless. Today we deliver unto your ears a premiere of the entire mind-blowing album.

Disloyal have been around since the late 1990s, though the current incarnation of the band reflects significant changes in membership, with only drummer “Jaro” Paprota remaining from the group when it was first formed. The line-up now includes guitarist Artyom Serdyuk (Deathbringer, Thy Disease, Amentia, Woe Unto Me), bassist Kolya Kislyi, and vocalist Krzysztof Bendarowicz (Deathbringer).

Godless also manifests some stylistic changes compared to Disloyal’s previous releases, and the result is a creative death metal powerhouse that’s both savage and brain-twisting.

 

 

The introductory track “Abruption” gives you fair warning of what’s ahead, as the shrieking of an air raid warning melds with grim riffs and soaring horns, as if to say, “take cover!”. And then “Give Place Unto Wrath” unleashes unmitigated hell, with a fusillade of inhuman drum mechanics and a jolting assault of rapidly changing riffs and darting lead guitar dissonance. The song swoops and dives like a mammoth raptor, veering from clawed attack mode to predatory, gliding passages that cast long shadows.

“Give Place Unto Wrath” is a good sign of what lies ahead, because Disloyal revel in creating songs that keep you off-balance, with tempos that turn on a dime and changes in mood that are equally variable, switching from absolute decimation to eerie atmospherics without warning.

And that’s what really makes this such a stand-out album. The technical skill of the musicians is abundantly evident, but they’ve harnessed that talent within the structures of songs that have been creatively written to take your mind on an exhilarating roller-coaster ride.

The songs also include thoroughly bestial vocal vehemence and a collection of mind-bending guitar solos that often contrast with the surrounding savagery of the music, not to mention a big helping of bone-breaking grooves and morbid melodies.

I don’t know what the right word for this music is — “brutal technical progressive death metal”? Whatever you call it, it’s an electrifying album that’s so intricately textured that it will stand up well to repeat listens (and believe me, you won’t be able to take in everything that happens on one listen anyway).

Godless will be released on June 9th via Ghastly Music / Amputated Vein Records and officially distributed by Code7/Plastic Head in Europe and MVD Entertainment Group in the US.

https://ghastlymusick.bandcamp.com/album/godless
https://www.facebook.com/disloyalband