DISBELIEF - The Symbol Of Death
May 27, 2017, 7 years ago
(Listenable)
I've always had a soft spot for this German band, who craft huge death metal with sludge/hardcore/near-Neurosian overtones. Having said that, me and Disbelief have lost touch recently, so I'm happy to see the band is still at it, here on songs like the excellent title track doing that weird thing they do so well, a sort of emotive, mid-tempo trudge that is like if Neurosis were on Nuclear Blast; some songs, like “One By One”, remind me of Obituary in their mid-tempo death metal stomp, thanks in no small part to the very John Tardy-esque vocal delivery.
And while I appreciate “The Circle”'s intense slow crawl, the song, number 10 of 13, signals the point where the album really should be ending; Disbelief wear out their welcome by a good 15 minutes here on this 63-minute disc. Still, good stuff, and I like the odd, off-kilter guitar work in tunes like “To Defy Control”, something else this band employs to create a slightly disturbing atmosphere to their tunes. Things can get a bit late-era Sepultura stifling at times (these guys do not like to have fun), but this is still interesting and fairly moving death/doom with tons of personality.
