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DISARRAY
Religious Disease

Jawbreaker (2024)
Rating: 8/10

Providing nothing new whatsoever, Stockholm, Sweden-based thrashers Disarray still pack a mighty Kreator-styled snap with their sophomore release. As the young foursome marches through ‘Bound To Kill’ I hear a Megadeth traipse mashed with a Brazilian rawness, especially in the lethal vocal spits of Lucas Lee.

Religious Disease is one moment a sniping Sadus, the next a primitive Destruction, but wherever this album roams you’ll be assured that it’ll be a hectic ride into the underground. Members, Lucas (vocals and lead guitar), Valter Emerot (rhythm guitar), Edvin Mossfeldt (bass) and Morgan Otttenvang (drums) don’t necessarily construct primitive noise, but it most certainly has a real spine of malice, especially with the buzzing guitar tone on my favourite song ‘Psychosis’.

Here, the band provides a steady chugging riff to accommodate the rasping snaps. Indeed, the band is quite the force with those mid-range grooves; I refer to the monstrous ‘Guilty Until Proven Innocent’ with its hefty backbone of bass and chopping riffage. But hey, let’s not get too carried away here, after all the top leagues of thrash metal are difficult tiers to infiltrate, but with time I can see Disarray becoming a recognised face among the crowd of sound-alike bands.

‘Hell’s Fire’ is lethal in its attack although measured its approach as again that bass rattles like a fully armoured vehicle ascending the slopes, and ‘Realize You’re Already Dead’ scowls with mocking aplomb as the drums kick the rib cage like a rain of bullets. Meanwhile, ‘Nightmarish Gaze’ begins with timely doom strikes before its steady riff ascent that’s built on foundations of 1986.

Tucked away towards the rear end of the album is ‘Apostate’, another gem of a cut with some truly disturbing hack n’ slash jabs as again the days of early Kreator come to the fore. Sure, there’s a familiarity throughout the album, but then again Disarray also throws in a few punky shifts alongside what are already riveting changes between steady wickedness and faster sniping.

In a world that is indeed in Disarray, let Religious Disease be your soundtrack to the coming apocalypse because this is thrash of much quality and bite.

Neil Arnold

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