Though they hail from New York City, the city that never sleeps, it is ironic that the hardcore band Disnihil would have a song called "This City is Dead" on their untitled CD in which they say "the veins have collapsed" and "all color is gone." Is this a eulogy for a city that has fallen victim to gentrification, or is the explanation much simpler?
Lyrical queries aside, the soundtrack to these scathing words is the most important part pf the album. Playing a style of hardcore that rarely lays off the pedal, Disnihil takes the speed, heaviness and thick guitar and bass tones of metal legends Motorhead and combines it with the old school styling of hardcore acts Negative Approach and Poison Idea.
"Parasites" opens the album with a sludgy guitar riff and a solid mid-tempo groove. This quickly gives way to a break-neck pace that defines the album. When they are not blazing by you in a trail of dust, they are laying down Black Sabbath-sized riffs, such as the one that rears its head toward the end of "Markings Consistent with Butchery." The effect of these slower parts is more devastating when they are used sparingly. It makes the fast parts seem even more chaotic when they do arrive.
Although certain fast hardcore bands such as Ceremony, Outbreak and Trash Talk are talented in their own right, they sound like their wheels can come off at any moment (which is part of their appeal). Disnihil are more accomplished musicians and play tighter than most bands in the genre, as evidenced by how they stop on a dime repeatedly in "Lost At Sea."
Disnihil's morose lyrics manage to keep the listener attentive and on edge as in, "Compassion Fatigue," "Born into a world already cold/Fighting battles that were already lost." Listeners pay attention to the track listing from the end of "Compassion Fatigue" into the beginning of "Collaborator" because "Collaborator" starts in a way that would typically be the end of a song: the unwinding of a distortion-soaked guitar solo and the dramatic crash of hissing cymbals. Alternating backing vocals from the guitarist and bassist call out a "bloodless traitor" that they do not sound pleased with.
If you do not want to be accused of treacherous taste in music, catch Disnihil as they branch out of the NYC area and tour along the east coast this spring.
2008 Woodie Awards
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