Review Summary: I probably shouldn't like this... but I kinda do...
Finding good new metalcore in 2022 can be a daunting activity. The genre has been so beaten to death that the true greats are either established giants or are moving away from standard templates into entirely new territory. But sometimes someone comes along and puts out standard straight up metalcore that, without breaking any boundaries or doing anything particularly different, is good enough to be worth turning my internal nitpicker off and paying attention.
In Disarray are a metalcore band hailing from Montreal, having released their second full-length album:
Trauma. While the record can be overbearingly pastiche at times and probably won’t leave a lasting impression, all of the ingredients needed to make a good genre album are there, and it is well-executed enough to be an enjoyable listen.
While the band market themselves as "progressive," the truth is that a vast majority of this album is rooted in the influences of mid-2000s metalcore, most specifically As I Lay Dying (to the point where I literally thought the band were outright ripping off AILD at times). This could be considered one of the main strengths and conversely one of the biggest drawbacks. The music is solidly written. The execution is well done. Yet it’s nothing anybody hasn’t heard before. It’s very
safe, with a seemingly large amount of thought put into releasing an album that would garner an immediate fan base rather than creating a piece of artwork with more integrity.
This leads to sometimes feeling like the tracks are indistinguishable. Due to the derivative nature of the songwriting, it sounds repetitive to the point that it’s hard to tell where some things begin or end. There’s seemingly not a whole lot of real effort put into the task of crafting the album in a way that stamps it definitively as the band's own work of art.
And while what I just described
should be a train wreck, the album is rescued by two things: a) the relatively brisk thirty-five minute runtime and b) the fact that the album is peppered with passages of In Disarray coming out of their shells and trying something different. Not to be misleading, In Disarray doing their own thing still isn’t wildly original, but they seem to be at their best when they stop trying to be an As I Lay Dying or Killswitch Engage clone and branch out into more eclectic tastes and embrace the progressive sound they are labeled as. It doesn’t often enough, but there are enough interesting moments to pull through the record and be entertained to boot.
Between the repetitive riff-chug-riff, there are passages when the band experiments with more djent-like, groovy feel that adds some flavor to the music. Occasionally, there are even moments (or in the case of the second to last track, an entire song) where the band stops trying so hard and takes a step back to add some space. This approach adds another layer of contrast and serves as a decent juxtaposition to the generic approach.
The instrumentals by and large are excellent, if unoriginal (and somewhat monotonous). The vocals are somewhat lackluster and are only occasionally redeemed by the vocalist's forays into other styles than just straight metalcore shouts or growls. Additionally, while the lack of any clean vocals wouldn't usually be an issue for me, it works against the music in that the vocalist's style becomes annoyingly grating about halfway through the record. Fortunately, the aforementioned brevity of the album, combined with enough flashes of excitement prevent the record from becoming stagnant.
In summary, you aren’t going to find a gem here, but you won’t find something utterly unlistenable either. The good outweighs the bad enough for it to be a worthwhile listen. Throughout the album, I found myself repeatedly thinking that I should hate this album, only for something to happen that genuinely kept me interested. So while it isn't the best metalcore, it's a lot better than it probably should be, and if this band can embrace their more adventurous side they do show a lot of promise for the future.
