Originally written by Jeremy Garner
Not that I expect anyone out there to keep up with my listening habits, but for the past few months I’ve been basking primarily in black metal, and while black metal is by far my first and foremost love, it’s nice to have a change of pace for a while, especially with a band of this caliber. A large part of the reason I only listen to a select number of bands within the genre is the for high propensity brutal death metal bands have for writing some of the most uninspired, unoriginal albums that bore me to tears within seconds. Thankfully, Disavowed avoids this little generic pitfall that plagues the genre like meth in a rural town.
To cut through the bullshit and get to the point, Disavowed are a damn impressive band, granted I’m a bit biased since they play my personal favorite sub-genre style. Disavowed find themselves gunning more for the characteristic Suffocation bludgeon and swagger, with some more slam tinged Dying Fetus moments. Rather than opting for the machine gun riffing and unrelenting bludgeoning style more in the vein of Decrepit Birth, these guys have enough tact to mix things up a bit with tempo variety. Songs like “Divided by Condemn” and “Restricted Conceptions” swap seamlessly from flurries of technical riffing to good old fashioned direct, violent mid paced sections. Interestingly, I think Disavowed is one of the few bands that can balance the visceral qualities of the death grind sound without abandoning the intelligent proficiency and subtle harmonic qualities of brutal death metal.
Within everything there is a very determinate feeling of purpose, with the theme and variation of everything coming from within the complex formulation and delivery of the songwriting and musicianship, not from any novelty between the songs themselves. With every song fitting into right around the three minute mark, you’d think things would get a bit formulaic or boring, but actually the opposite is true. The brain numbing hammering of songs like “Biased Existence”, “Treason”, “Dogmatic Conceit”, and “The Eternal Validity” all carry a rabid intensity and prodigious presence that testify to the band’s ability and talent. This isn’t exactly your everyday metal album, there was actually a reason we haven’t heard anything for the past six years–the guys from Disavowed actually wanted to write something that, while maybe not that different from the status quo, at the very least stood out in terms of ability.
If you’re not a fan of the style this may seem a bit mono-dimensional, but Stagnated Existence actually takes a few listens before everything that’s going on finally comes to the forefront and you can really appreciate the complexity inherit in its songs. Granted the band isn’t exactly afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, they do a damn good job of churning out songs interesting enough to make you stop caring about the lack of innovation. Easily one of the better brutal death metal albums we’ve been blessed with this year.
