Album Review: Disquiet – Instigate To Annihilate
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
This is what Bank Holiday Monday’s are for. Sitting down and listening to new music from a band who describe themselves on their Instagram page as a “Dutch melodic thrash outfit combining Bay Area oriented thrash metal mixed with melodic European elements” I for one, am very intrigued by that, so no fresh air for me, as I dive headlong that most glorious of sounds… thrash metal!
'Instigate to Annihilate' is the third full length offering from Dutch five piece Disquiet and it is one that certainly offers a great variety, based around some ferocious and crushing riffs, catchy singalong choruses with a great old school thrash metal vibe. It all kicks off with the wonderfully titled 'Rise of the Sycophants' and delivers a stunning start to the album, as its heavy, fast, energetic and offering a reflection on current society. It also showcases the vocal range of Sean Maia, and you can feel the venom spitting from his mouth.
The frenetic pace continues unashamedly with the next few songs, 'Demonic Firenado' and 'Designed to Violate' are both full on kick ass tracks, with uplifting rhythmic sections from guitarists Menno Ruijzendaal and Fabian Verweij, whilst keeping the tempo fast and furious, before title track 'Instigate to Annihilate' comes up and demands your attention, as it’s a full frontal assault on all of your senses, with the main riff throughout the song being an instant classic.
You can sense the Bay Area vibe throughout most of the songs, and as an old school thrasher myself, this is extremely appealing and makes it more pleasurable to listen to but I do like how they intertwined other elements into their music, “Wrecked” is a great example of this, and the band continue to work hard to showcase their talents across the next 5 songs, with drummer Arthur Stam and bassist Frank van Boven, pushing the songs along at epic pace.
'Destroyance' sees another direction come out, before the killer riff comes to kick your head in, and it’s a toss up between that and next song 'Sicario' as my favourites on the album. Its songs like this that make me thankful that I got into thrash metal in the 80’s, as the guys from Utrecht are combining lots of different styles but basing it around the Bay Area sound, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
