Album Review: Disfuneral - In Horror, Reborn
Reviewed by Sam Jones
This day and age we really are fortunate to see so many younger bands now becoming established forces in heavy metal, one such band is France’s Disfuneral. A nation still overlooked for its metal catalogue, France has had numerous acclaimed names such as Massacra, Gojira, Alcest, Gorod amongst others and today, Disfuneral may be about to be added to that list. Formed in 2015 out of the city of Nancy, the band’s first self-titled EP released in 2017 and though there was a quiet period afterwards it was all in the run up to their first album which saw some Singles preceding its unleashing. Blood Red Tentacle, that first record, released at last in 2022 with Redefining Darkness Records and now three years on the band are back, once more with the same record label, with their second full length work: In Horror, Reborn. Disfuneral are a band I’ve vaguely known of therefore this record gives me an opportunity to see what these guys are all about. Set for an April 25th release date, and featuring drummer Yang Remy’s first album credit with Disfuneral, here is a chance for French extreme metal to flex its prowess.
Disfuneral absolutely believe in the simplicity in songwriting. This may be Disfuneral’s most blatant strength and potentially something they went into the creation of this record thinking over. When you listen closely, the style of riffs played, the various bridges and verses, it depicts Disfuneral as a band who forgo anything overtly technical or superfluous, anything that wouldn’t serve their songwriting as they view it, and opt for performing death metal that’s much more to the point. In this regard you can certainly describe Disfuneral’s ethos as old school as nothing has been written here that could otherwise take you out of the atmosphere, out of the sheer feel of the riff. In fact there are only a few solos and even fewer blast beats; as we’ll cover shortly, the band aren’t here to viciously overwhelm us. What this does in turn is establish a record where you can easily venture in and stay as long as you’d like with them, and should you feel the need to leave? That’s perfectly fine, because Disfuneral will welcome you back once more and you can pick up precisely where you left off. The record doesn’t place any ulterior expectation upon you. It’s also not trying to convey anything particularly lofty or some profound message; its death metal that knows its death metal, a naked honesty you don’t find all too often.
Though the band’s performance is one that’s evidently bristling with energy and life, its curious as to just how neatly arranged Disfuneral’s arsenal actually is. The band are playing death metal through and through, a kind that’s easy for us to buy into and believe, yet its incredibly well structured and speaks volumes regarding a band where every member understands their purpose and what lane they each need to be driving in. Even when the band instigate their more maniacal sequences and their restraints drop away now and again, you can still feel the hint of that organisation at play. Other extreme metal acts are at home with thrusting us into some flurry of chaos but that doesn’t appear to be Disfuneral’s ethos; these guys are comfortable providing a coherent canvas by which their songwriting can work off of and thus keep us glued to their performance wherein little at all is challenged that may inhibit our interpretation of said performance.
What I really appreciate about Disfuneral is that whilst they’re clearly moving with purpose and their tempo is continuously on the incline, their sound never feels like its at risk of escaping you. We can keep up them at any given point which I think is great for death metal since it enables us to take in their songwriting with greater clarity as opposed to being utterly bowled over by a band’s cyclonic onslaught. Bands always want us to know something was great, but Disfuneral’s approach to death metal allows us as the audience is know what specifically made their record enjoyable and thereby better conveyed to friends and others curious in their record. Their tempo organically dips and climbs since the band aren’t devoting themselves wholly to speed entirely which creates a stronger flow, preventing the pacing from stagnating. What some bands would only spend thirty seconds on a section, Disfuneral may put an extra fifteen seconds to it; this is comparatively a tiny addition of time but it relaxes that sensation of rapidity, slowing the action down essentially to give us a greater picture of what is occurring. Its that “car crash in slow motion” effect whereby all the smaller details regularly lost in the speed are revealed to us.
With all this said, it must be said the band’s primary impact absolutely draws from the synergy established with the guitar and bass work. Since we acknowledge Disfuneral aren’t always looking for aggressive tempo, it allows the band to double down on steadier songwriting and thus apply guitar tones that flourish when speed isn’t the prerogative. It feels tricky to speak about these elements as if they are two separate components for its their entwined performance that gifts Disfuneral their signature crunching sound. On the whole the record isn’t the kind that’s vying for utterly crushing soundscapes as you’ll find yourself easily going along with your day as the band entertain you, but you won’t be able to escape from the pronounced riffs and chords the instrumentation throws out. I feel the riffs are just loud and prominent enough without them clearly challenging the rest of the band for domination; they also fill the empty spaces of the record but just enough to convey that clenched aesthetic where the band feel dangerous to the listen, and are at no point applying additional pressure to your senses. From my experience of the record, In Horror, Reborn, seems to be an excellent case study of the term “everything in moderation”.
In conclusion, Disfuneral’s second full length album is the kind of record may want to delve into seeing as their songwriting and ethos towards metal is so geared towards cutting anything unnecessary out of its runtime, and thus distill the album experience into a refined and organised product that we can come back to willingly. In a way its very meat-and-potatoes death metal but then the band, looking back on In Horror, Reborn, aren’t just applying speed and blast beats at every turn. It takes planning and time to give such an assault this level of coordination, especially the kind that we as listeners can pick up on. Disfuneral don’t play with the absent subtlety of a charging bull, but more as a conductor commanding his orchestration, going “Now! Now! Now!”. In that respect this record is meticulously crafted and deliberately to be interpreted as that kind of stripped down death metal album. With thirty-five minutes to work with, the band don’t stick around long and its evidently not in their intention to overstay their welcome, not when each song doesn’t last longer than it takes the songwriting to get the point across. It does its job, gets in then gets out. I think may will be interested in Disfuneral and its especially old school approach to songwriting in extreme metal.
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