Egregious violators acting in the name of religious fundamentalism offer just one element fueling the fiery defiance held within Stockholm, Sweden-based thrash metal quartet DISARRAY who view the world as under siege by chaos, tech-terror, pandemia and dissolving climes on this intensely authentic classic thrash metal influenced sophomore album. Dissolution into mayhem, visions of world-wide cataclysm and at least several dozen riffs plant ‘Religious Disease‘ in mind as reactionary, urgent and remarkable study of classic forms. These folks have more than the usual simple-cut copped riffs in mind as they reveal ancient songwriting structure and showmanship which emphasizes the extreme menace available to thrash metal rhythms well beyond the norm. They’ve nailed it on this record and as such this one is distinctly for the die-hard mid to late 80’s thrash metal purist who feeds off of aggression and wildly kinetic movements above all else.

Disarray formed circa 2022 assumedly between a group of roughly high school aged folks putting their efforts into the heavy metal underground in the Stockholm area, selecting classic thrash metal (as in the popular style fostered between ’83-’93) as their foil for protest and resistance. It is a fine medium for existential restlessness but of course it has been done to death over the last thirty years so, a group of young folks approaching the sub-genre with authenticity and their own original vision is an uphill battle. They’d made a few interesting aesthetic choices for their debut LP (‘Evil is Reborn‘, 2023) side-stepping the demo process and exercised their option to self record a full-length. The results were modest in sound but solid in their arrangement. If you are a fan of Shah and their patient development of the riff with the rare technical turnaround in their transitions or if you are just a fan of where mid-80’s German thrash violence and United States speed metal pomp met up that debut had the right stuff with the exception of its sound design, or lack thereof.

On that first album vocalist/guitarist Lucas Lee had a strange echoic reverb applied to his vocals, lending a menacing early Sacrifice (Canada) snarl amidst otherwise fairly standard riffcraft squarely the realm of pure thrash metal despite a light blackened edge, hardcore punk tipped bridge riffs, and pretty competent soloing throughout. It wasn’t generic but it was the sort of mid-to-late 80’s style record one’d expect out of the Eastern Bloc, raw but with the essence exactly right. ‘Religious Disease‘ yanks the band out of that raw, clangorous bullet spray and directs Lee‘s rasp closer to early Kreator and nearby German thrash vocalists, almost mustering the volatility of a group like Hypnosia without all of the noisome late 90’s/early 2000’s production values. As opener “Forbidden of Speech” the actual riffs are closer to peak late 80’s Sodom at their fastest, offering punkish change-ups and double bass kicked gallops throughout the “Nuclear Winter”-esque shred through the song. Any longtime fan of classic thrash metal should be instantly impressed with their work to start, though their work isn’t original at any given point it is more importantly authentic.

The song to pull me in for a closer listen beyond the first impression was “Nightmarish Gaze” not only for its bridge that resembles the build-up of “Plastic Bomb” from Poison Idea and the heavier thrashing verse ruffs which resemble the neck-whipping push of “Nightly Aggression” from the first No Return album. These references probably aren’t intended and could just be exclusive to my own experience but they’d caught me ear for the bounding and dashing effect shared between them, feeling exactly like a late 80’s thrash metal band in the thick of their riff-obsessed era. Granted there is a full ~50 minutes to digest here if we include the bonus re-recording of “Inhuman Reign” from the first LP and while things to get decidedly more aggressive from that point on you won’t find Disarray wildly veering from style to style here, this is a riff record that knows how to find a pocket and stick with it until their bigger grooves come calling. Songs like “Hell’s Fire” and “Psychosis” reach a peaking level of violence and pretty damned badass variety all things considered as these folks pull off a radical level of interest spanning those first six or so songs.

Where I felt like this band might have some measure of potential in store on this record came with “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”, to be fair the main riff is pretty recognizable but the build toward it separates their work from the usual rushed-through thrashers today. Though it is a small gesture under a lens it does a fine job building up the effect of the song with a bit of bravado. With this type of modus shows a lot of potential, one could easily see these folks reaching an Inculter-like level of showmanship in their compositions if they keep their ears glued to the broader details of thrash metal’s most classic presentation… the stuff that works in a club but might hit even bigger in a stadium; From that point there are many more inventive moments which highlight the experience such as the gloom-stricken brain drill riffs about ~1:35 minutes into “Apostate”, one of my favorite songs on the album which feels like exactly like the type of action early Merciless took from Kreator‘s second album, too.

Sure, I’d say ‘Religious Disease‘ is a bit long even if we cut its greater statement down to ~45 minutes sans the bonus track but I doubt the average classic thrash metal addict would even flinch, probably slapping the damn thing on repeat for four or five hours without even realizing it. That’d been my experience for the most part, I put Disarray‘s gig on and every second of it was worthy as it quickly became clear these folks figured out a much higher standard for themselves (and much tighter playing overall) within the space of less than a year. Sure, it ain’t all that original in any sense but if this is what they’re capable of now, and they can pull it off live, then the thrash metal headspace is richer for their inclusion. Here’s hoping they stick with it and continue to value this level of authenticity because this record is inarguably a cut above and consistently served an ‘old school’ rush every time I picked it up. A high recommendation.

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