Disappearer

Three years since their self-titled EP on Trash Art, Boston's experi-metal insurgents Disappearer finally release their debut full-length, The Clearing. Last year's free download EP, recorded by Cave In's Steve Brodsky, Winter Sessions, demonstrated the band's 180-degree rotation in their sonic output by adding vocals for the first time: bassist Jebb Riley stepped to the mic with Slayer-like growls. Lead tracks "A Skull Full of Bats" and "Dissolve" illustrate Disappearer's new attitude: shorter, more concise cuts that pound away unrelentingly on drummer Matt Spearin's floor tom and cavernous kick drum beats, alongside Thomas Moses's atmospheric guitar chords. "Glassland" resembles a Neurosis rhythm exercise with a clean, Young Gods-styled delivery, while "Nausea" is brooding punk with sneering vocals. The instrumental tunes are diverse: the Godflesh-esque "Etched," the doomier "Obsidian" and the heaving "Vein Harvest." The mostly mellow title track is the band unplugged until the final implosive minutes. Skilfully produced by Converge despot Kurt Ballou, The Clearing arrives rather late to the post-hardcore party but with enough confidence to charm its way to the front of the beer line.