Disintegration are a death-grind band from deep in the heart of GWAR country, Richmond, Virginia, that play a type of grindcore that filters thrash and black metal through a crusty grindcore filter. They weaponize aggressive riffing and heavy blasting in the form of their 2022 full-length, Carbon Shadow.
Since the debut of their demo in 2016, Disintegration have been fine-tuning and polishing their said metaphorical munitions, resulting in a very Assück sounding style of metallic grindcore. Although, Disintegration might have a little more sugar in their licks compared to Assück, while also avoiding that telltale stink of grunge rock that stained many 90's metal bands back during that era. This latest incarnation of Disintegration that we are given here on Carbon Shadow also brings to mind certain similar Texas gulf-coast-insect-combatant-based-grind bands.
Disintegration vocalist, Ryan Zell—who might be better known as the guitarist of such legendary bands as Sacridose and Cellgraft, if I'm not mistaken—is laying down a solid front of mostly monotone, guttural cookie monster growls that undulates with an undertone of that cinder block on concrete kind of cadence. Vocally, he's somewhere amongst a light mince/gore dialect and throaty crust punk snorts; save for that one pig squeal in the twenty-three second song, "Melting Rot." The lyrical themes of war, famine and death also embody those crust punk platitudes of pestilence and pessimism.
I feel like a lot of Disintegration's charm is the talented uniqueness of the guitar work. Guitarist, Drew Brooks is serving up some rapid fire catch-and-release palm muted thrash riffs that carry the bulk of the songs and really steer them from one metal subsect to the next. He's the deciding factor on the subtle shifting from genre to genre that is happening throughout the tracklist. "Justified Retaliation" is giving major thrash metal vibes with the palm muting and double kick drum intro before rounding out the second half with some drilled-in black metal tremolo riffing. Meanwhile the brief intro to "Black Death Trebuchet" presents itself with more of an old school death metal influence. There are so many variation and delicacies translated through rhythmic palm muting. It would be easy to pigeonhole these influences as either death metal, thrash, crust or just good 'ole-fashioned grindcore. However, all would be more than apt.
Brooks also pulls double duty as bass player on Carbon Shadow, out of what is presumably mere necessity. Now, there's not a lot of light to shine on the bass guitar within this album. It's very much there as a warm booming background tone and is sort of a shadow in and of itself. Yet, it's likely exactly where it should be in the mix. With a majority of the sound being given to the guitar, possessing a springy slinkiness tone of its own, the brightened growl of a bass isn't as necessary.
Disintegration's drummer, Leland Hoth—previously of Occultist fame—sets pace with a cavalcade of intense drumming that is as chaotic as it is pummeling. Much like the guitar, Hoth is dodging in and out of the metal genre like a Fun Dip Lik-a-Stick. He constantly runs the gamut from the double bass pedal gallops of "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator" to the careening, overly fast mid-paced thrash-punk hammering of "Blood Eagle" before leaning into the boiling blast beats of "Perfect Life-form." The breakneck pace is very reminiscent of both Vermin Womb and Insect Warfare's styles of high-speed percussion.
Unfortunately, despite my veneration towards the band, Carbon Shadow is not without its more strident criticisms. Carbon Shadow is what the band has been building towards the past six or so years. The guitar and drums have evolved exponentially from their initial demo, not to mention their songwriting and production value as well.
Yet, Carbon Shadow seems to have some complication in the mix. Periodically, I get the sense that the instruments of the band sound like they are playing almost independently from one another; occasionally falling in-and-out of pocket—or at least sound like they are on the verge of it. And I understand the harshness of this critique and I'm willing to concede that I might be mistaken and this may not even be the case. Especially considering that there is no sign of this in the band's demo or on their 2017 EP, Cruel Slaughter. It may possibly be an in-studio issue. If this is even the case—allegedly.
Another issue with the mix is the de-emphasizing of the snare drum, however so slight. Again, compared to the previous releases, this just happens to be the most suppressed volume of snare—allegedly. It should be noted that the band's entire discography is self-produced and self-recorded.
Minor gripes notwithstanding, Disintegration's Carbon Shadow is an aggressively dark and mean version of death-grind that incorporates almost all aspects of all associated subgenres. They fill the gap from Apocalyptic Noise Syndicate all the way to Iskra, if not just straight up Assück zealotry. I know I've named dropped more than a few bands already and I would name drop even more if I was more familiar with the metal community. So you can see the wide appeal for listeners either looking for a variety of inspiration or listeners merely interested in heavy grinding.
The full-length itself is decently polished and crisp and finds the band at top performance. Hoth and Brooks' skill behind the kit and on the guitar are the band's crown jewels and are shepherded through with Zell's coarse vocal command. Any of these are well worth the price of admission, but the headbanging catchiness and thick crunch of the guitar sends Carbon Shadow over the top.
FFO: Assück, Insect Warfare, Apocalyptic Noise Syndicate
Listen to the album:
