Disgrace – True Enemy

Doesn’t Quite Nail It

A number of recent bands have been taking influence from the early 2000s trend of metal-infused hardcore popularized by bands like All Out War, and some have added their own creative twist to the sound, while some have stayed true to form. Disgrace – essentially a Southern California supergroup – is one group that seems to be sticking to its roots. Featuring vocals from Nails drummer Taylor Young and members of other California hardcore heavyweights like Creatures and Twitching Tongues, Disgrace’s debut True Enemy unfortunately comes out to much less than the sum of its parts.

True Enemy is your standard issue hardcore metal fusion record. There is nothing surprising, or even particularly interesting about it, but it certainly delivers in terms of heaviness. Conquered is a highlight on the record. One of the darkest and heaviest tracks, it features the guitar talent found in the band and gives an example of what this record could be. Following in the footsteps of modern hardcore bands like Blacklisted and the Mongoloids, Disgrace includes a somewhat awkward acoustic “Segue” that comes three songs from the end rather than in the middle, that doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. The album ends on a high note with “Conclusion,” another example of what this band could do, but doesn’t seem to quite hit most of the time.

With all of the interesting ways that musicians have been messing with what you can do in the hardcore genre, and with all of the talent in this band, Disgrace’s debut should be better. True Enemy has potential, there is no arguing that, but there is just something missing – keeping them from being the powerhouse they should be. Big fans of metal-heavy hardcore are bound to find things they like on this record, and Disgrace has a lot of potential to put out a far more exciting record, but a few things are going to have to change.