I was incredibly stoked when I found out that Swedish d-beat machines Disfear had recruited the insanely prolific Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates/Skitsystem/The Crown/The Great Deceiver as the vocalist for their 2003 Relapse Records debut Misanthropic Generation. Admittedly, I was somewhat let down by the direction the record took, abandoning the brutal crust assault of Disfear’s earlier output in favor of a decidedly Entombed-influenced “death & roll” offering. The band’s newest release, Live the Storm, featuring one of Converge mastermind Kurt Ballou’s best production jobs to date, reverts to the Scandinavian thrash sound of Disfear’s earlier material while taking cues from some of their more melodic crusty brethren in the process. The result is not only the band’s strongest record to date, but also one of Relapse Records most memorable releases of the past few years. Devastating. –Dave Williams
–guest (Relapse)