THREAT SIGNAL - Disconnect

November 22, 2017, 6 years ago

(Agonia)

Greg Pratt

Rating: 7.0

review heavy metal threat signal

THREAT SIGNAL - Disconnect

For their first album since 2011’s self-titled, Hamilton’s Threat Signal have brought in new rhythm guitarist Matt Perrin, and—not that the band weren’t tight before—the chemistry between Perrin and lead guitarist Travis Montgomery is off the charts, the two locked in together with a tightness that would make the Meshuggah six-stringers take a second blush. So that’s fun to listen to; whether or not you’ll appreciate sitting through the near-hour of Disconnect depends on if you’re a fan of this style of melodic metalcore or not. Look, no one ever said it’s not formulaic, and it is, big time: Threat Signal do screamy verses and melodic choruses, and they do it as good as anyone else. 

On this album, they do it better than most, and I love it when they channel, maybe unintentionally, guitar melodies from the ’80s, such as the killer intro to “To Thine Own Self Be True”. Cool to see they can pull off a 10-minute tune in “Terminal Madness” and keep the plot… and the listener’s attention. The sound that Threat Signal have nailed down to an incredible degree here can be enjoyable in small doses, but songs like “Walking Alone” push the limits of taste, the band sounding more like they’re trying to write a catchy song than anything else. Still, that’s the inherent faults of the subgenre at hand here; working within those confines, Threat Signal impress more than expected on this album. Fans of the band or genre do not want to miss this. Casual observers, nothing much to see here.



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