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DISARMAGEDDON
No Liberty

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 8.5/10

Jay Troskie (vocals), Matthew Jordaan (guitar), Lance von Buddenbrock (guitar), Ashish Seetharam (bass) and Calvin Meyer (drums) are Johannesburg, South Africa-based thrash act Disarmageddon. No Liberty is their nine-song debut full-length outing which isn’t a world away from the vintage San Francisco Bay Area scene which boasted such classic bands as Death Angel, Forbidden and Vio-lence.

At the time of writing this opus doesn’t have a physical release which is a damn shame because this is a nice dose of old school thrash. The crunch on this is exemplary, as are the crisp melodies delivered through crisp solos. The chugs are wonderfully measured and tight and punctured by the vocal retorts of Jay Troskie.

No Liberty is an extremely mature thrash outing that is armed with long yet engaging instrumental passages too, but it never veers into the realm of plod. Instead, Disarmageddon teases us with methodical segments before ripping our face off. These guys whip the listener with frantic drums, threads of a cutting bass, gang chants and zipping solos from the off with the title track. There’s no silly humour, just pure hostile yet classy thrash, the sort that if you’d heard it in 1987 you’d be pleased with your purchase.

‘Tunnel Rats’ is speedy and Troskie bears a slight resemblance to Vio-lence frontman Sean Killian alongside Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda. ‘Gunship’ is equally volatile but injects some mid-tempo precision before the gritty blasts. Throughout I can’t shake the Death Angel influence as the combo rages hard on ‘Protect And Serve’ and ‘Collateral Damage’ (which features some superb lead work), and yet even with the pace Disarmageddon maintain some excellent melodies. ‘Vantage Point’ and ‘One For All’ showcase my points with integrated steadiness but a vicious snap too.

In this day and age it’s quite uncommon for a thrash band to excite me, but even with its nostalgic connotations No Liberty strikes such a chord with its energy. This is an album to be proud of guys.

Neil Arnold

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