Review Summary: A flight marred by motion sickness.
Disciple’s established career path could probably go something like this:
Disciple found a basic template for the band’s sound,
Scars Remain improved and slightly expanded upon said template,
Southern Hospitality threw the template out the window and just ripped off 2006-era Papa Roach, and
Horseshoes And Handgrenades brought back the template and turned it into a slightly flawed master plan, coming off as the worthy sequel to
Scars Remain. While SR showed that the band could craft fully capable alternative metal, H&H skyrocketed them into a place where they had to be taken seriously by any alt-metal/modern rock fan. Pressure was definitely on for
O God Save Us All, and I went into this with my greatest expectations for the group yet.
Kevin sounds great and fully capable, easily switching from his southern-tinged croon to a grittier cry to full-on screams. He isn’t necessarily groundbreaking (RED’s Michael Barnes and BB’s Benjamin Burnley easily give him a run for his money), but his voice is enjoyable and does what it needs to throughout the release. Disciple’s penchant for lineup changes returns in full voice here: former lead guitarist Andrew Welch (now in hard rock group Thousand Foot Krutch) was replaced by Andrew Stanton (formerly of alternative rock group I Am Empire), though we still have Micah Sannon on rhythm guitar. Their chemistry throughout the record is inescapable, especially with the band focusing on more of a riff-centric approach than previously. Yes, this means that solos aren’t shoved in our face over and over as they were on a record like
Southern Hospitality. You can probably guess this: drums and bass really don’t do too much that’s noteworthy. Right around the time that
Horseshoes And Handgrenades came out, the band started touring a whole lot with RED and playing at some of the same festivals. There was some definite RED influence on the last album, and it’s here as well: with the heavier riff-centered approach and scream focus, yes, but also with the orchestral strings. They’re not used as well as RED utilizes, but they do add a nice flavor at points and don’t really detract from the music, perhaps just being there to be there.
“Outlaws” and “O God Save Us All” absolutely tear into the listener, both protraying dualistic vocals of melody and harshness, fantastic guitar riffs, and of course an equal balance between great darkness and even greater light. Either of these tracks could’ve been placed on
Handgrenades and are just as excellent as the heavy tracks there. “Once and For All” and “Someday” are slower, almost mid-tempo rock tracks that bleed of honest emotion and beautiful vocal and guitar melodies (as well as those string orchestras), and even though they are slower than the beginning of the album, they are standout tracks in their own right and extremely enjoyable. Like “Battle Lines”, “Unstoppable” pits thrashing double-bass pounding against downtuned staccato riffing, occasionally with a semi-techincal flare, and flaring vocals from Kevin. The chorus is a little weak, yes, but as a whole this is one of the stronger points of the album and proves that Disciple can still hold their own at their heaviest if they really try.
If you’re wondering why I had to qualify that last statement, it’s because
O God Save Us All partly suffers from the syndrome that plagued the first record: a lot of filler. Half of the heavy songs on the record are boring and predictable, held back by expected tropes and damning repetition. 3 out of 5 of the slower tracks leave much to be desired as well, leaving us with five good songs here in an album of 11. Lyrically, the band is doing what they’ve done for years: fighting their demons and helping listeners fight theirs through the healing power of Jesus, and if you like this, you’ll dig their lyrical content.
In context, this was very disappointing. It wasn’t near as bad as
Southern Hospitality, no, but it was weaker than
Scars Remain and a step backwards as a whole. The standouts, like the ones on
Disciple, are fairly strong, but I can’t recommend the whole package.
