Kev Rowland A black and white cover which depicts an apocalyptic future, eleven songs in thirty minutes, this could only be hardcore punk, coming to us from L.A.. One has to say that in many ways this is quite an unusual album in that while the drums are frantic and the vocals harsh, the riffs are somewhat muted and the music itself is quite melodic. In new lead guitarist Christian La Rocca (Ruin, Gravehill, Cobra Venom) they have someone who obviously is coming into this from a more metallic background as displayed by his solos, and this is music which at times is hard to distinguish from melodic thrash with only the vocals of Jon Tomala showing that the heart and soul is still hardcore.

This crossover genre is melodic and fun, yet while energetic doesn’t contain the brutality one expects as the underlying music is often something which one may expect to hear from far more melodic bands and this contrasts somewhat with the anger front the frontman. The weird thing is that it actually works, especially when some metallic guitar makes an over the top entrance in “World War When”. This may not work for the purists, but one can imagine it comes over in a far gruffer and menacing manner when in the live environment and overall this is a solid release without ever being essential.

Time Signature The crushing low...

Genre: d-beat metal

D.I.S., or Destroyed in Seconds, is an American d-beat act featuring original members of Phobia and Mange, and Becoming the Wrath is their second album. As you might expect, this album offers a hefty dose of crust fueled by anger and aggression, but there is much more to Becoming the Wrath than just simple crust punk (not that there is anything wrong with simple crust punk though).

While marketed as a d-beat band, D.I.S.'s music is definitely much more varied than your run-of-the-mill d-beaters. While there are, of course, loads of d-beat passages on the album, the drumming is actually considerably more complex than with other d-beat and crust bands, as Sean Vahle has a nice variety of drum beats in his arsenal, ranging from true d-beating over double bass drum attacks to blastbeats. But, all tracks maintain the high level of energy at all times which characterize crust punk in general. The guitars have that dirty down-tuned sound associated with crust, and, while there are plenty of punky riffs, D.I.S.'s music on this album does have a very strong metal edge in the form of references to both black metal, thrash metal, death metal and grindcore. There are several palm-muted chucking riffs and metallic breakdowns.

The vocals are harsh and angry and fit perfectly with the level of aggression that pervades the album, while the guitar solos are upbeat and have a lot of rock 'n' roll spirit to them. D.I.S. definitely take d-beat in a metallic direction on Becoming the Wrath, fusing crust and metal. This way, they pay tribute to Discharge and Amebix and at the same time offer their own take on the d.beat metal approach.

Fans of hardcore punk, crust and dirty metal should definitely find this album extremely enjoyable.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)