Disciple was formed in 1992 in Knoxville, Tennessee by former bassist and vocalist Kevin Young, guitarist Brad Noah, and drummer Tim Barrett.
Back Again was their fourth album released, and the first CD under
Slain Recordings.
What's really good about Disciple is that they're Christian. I go to a Christian school so the lyrics are very appealing to me. I think that Disciple is
horribly underrated. First of all, only they're latest album is in stores, while the rest is only available online. Second of all, I heard about Disciple from school. the only way my friends know about it from the constant ranting from me. Disciple is just as good as many other metal bands out their, but the world doesn't seem to realize it.
Disciple - Back Again
The Review
Back Again properly captures a sense of complete fury, from it's crunching guitar riffs to Kevin's enraged screaming. The album pumps you up more and more as each track passes by. If you're a guitarist, you'll probably be really anxious to start playing this (I know I was!).
The first track,
Back Again, starts out with a quiet guitar line, that gradually goes into Kevin screaming 'ain't goin' back again!' Then, the main riff smacks you in the face like a machine gun. It's very fast, and it's very angry. It's also very impressive (It's much harder than it sounds). The slight downfall of this song is the vocals in the verses.
What are they saying? It's past comprehension, but the chorus is very clear. The drumming in
Back Again is also incredible. Tim makes perfect use of the cymbals, hitting them in the most appropriate places at the perfect times. What's really surprising about this song is the solo. Brad does an outstanding job in these few seconds of the track, even though it is slightly drowned out by the background guitars.
Fear is next up. The track starts out with the whole band together. The guitars are weaker than on
Back Again, but that's not saying much. I think that
Fear was more of an experimental song, since there are a bunch of bizarre guitar effects, and the solo is really odd. However, the song is another standout, but also a small step down from
Back Again.
After
Fear is
103. It starts out with a fast, heavy riff, with exceptional drumming once again. The vocals are marvelous in
103, and the chorus catches a really good feel of worship and praise. The thing about the song is that is sounds somewhat filler. Part of the riff is recycled from
Back Again, and the layout is very simple. Still,
103 is a very good song.
Touch follows. So far it has the most Christian-themed lyrics. The opening riff is great - the same note played very shortly over and over again. It's a pretty cool sound. What's funny about this song is that it's one of those songs better off without a solo. The solo just wouldn't blend in with most of the song, and it's a really good thing that Disciple didn't include a solo in
Touch. The drumming is sweet, once again, with perfect timing. Overall,
Touch stands out quite a lot, and is a lot of fun to listen to if you're tired and need something to pump you up.
Following is
Face. This is where things start to get repetitive. It's once again filled with fury, but has outstanding vocals. The guitars are accompanied by the drums with Tim whacking one cymbal every four notes, with a few very brief fills. The effect is, well, effective, and sounds quite cool with the heavy riff. However, the verses are very generic and recycled, but the chorus makes up for it, since it flows as well as the Niagara River. The slow singin accompanied by the consistent background drums and guitar sounds perfect, making
Face another quality song.
Wait starts out differently with an almost majestic effect, which then goes into a distorted sample. The bad thing about this is that it blends about as well as a Sprite can and clay in a Magic Bullet. The song is different from all the other songs, though. It has a more metalcore feel than nu-metal. It's a good change in pace, too, since we've all been waiting for something different by now. The song slows down part way through, with beautiful singing by Kevin, and then jumps right back into the crushing heaviness. Overall,
Wait is a superb track.
The starting of
Hardened is a lot like the beginning of
Fear. It has a weird but sick guitar effect. This song also has a good metalcore feel to it in the verses. The guitars are once again recycled from previous songs on this albums, which brings this song down a lot, but Brad does an excellent job in the chorus with the descending effect. Tim does another outstanding job on
Hardened, and isn't as cymbal-happy as in
Back Again. The song captures that sensation of anger, but more of a burning kind of fury, and once again, Disciple manages to make another great track with
Hardened.
Why Don't You Shut Up (What a really great name for a Christian song...) is next in line. It begins with a drum into, which goes into a hard-hitting, vicious guitar starting. I think Kevin was really P.O.'d when he wrote this track, and it's very evident in
Why Don't You Shut Up, since the track is an
extremely angry song for Disciple. The bass drum is more evident, and is a really nice touch to another really great song.
Things are much different with
Before You. It starts with Kevin singing "God I come before You; to worship and adore You; pray I see Your power; Holy Spirit fall upon me!" The song is obviously very heavily religious after hearing the opening." The song is actually really upbeat, which is about His sincere love for the earth. It's almost like a priest wrote the lyrics to this song, which a really good thing since spreading God's love is a wonderful thing to do. The fact that Disciple helps in this song is really good, since it appeals to a lot of nu-metal and heavy metal fans, and can get them into Christianity a lot.
Before You is an excellent song to tell all of your friends to download.
After the wonderful
Before You is the okay
Remembering. It sounds a lot like a filler track, with reused riffs and drumming. The vocals are also pretty repetitive, sounding exactly the same as every other song on this album. There isn't really much to say about
Remembering since it is a recycled filler track. A solo would have been excellent in this song.
The opening riff for
Not The Same sort of sounds like System of a Down wrote it, because it's a really nice, heavy riff. The song is another really good song about how God judges you not about how you look on the outside, but He judges you on your heart, and that absolutely NO ONE looks the same in His eyes. The overall sound of the song is worthy of some credit. It sounds the same as many of the other songs, but revolves more around the guitars.
After
Not The Same is
Next Time. The song is filler again, with reused riffs and drumming again. The singing is pretty good in this song, but nothing to get excited about. There isn't much to say about this song either, since it sounds very similar to
Remembering.
Back Again ends with
One More Time. It's the only slow song on
Back Again. It's a very emotional and religious song. A great, upbeat song that talks about the trust in Jesus Christ that Disciple has. It sounds a little poppy, but the message is
magnificant. Jesus loves you, and you should thank God for that, and when you pray, God does listen to you.
In conclusion,
Back Again is a classic. It is recommended to any Christian and/or nu-metal/metalcore fan.
Pros
Incredible Christian lyrics.
The drums are insane, along with the havy hitting guitars.
The blend - perfectly incorporating Christian lyrics with headbang-worthy music.
Cons
Repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive.
Sometimes the screaming can get on your nerves.
No idea what Kevin is singing sometimes.
Score:4.5/5
