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Disrupt

Unrest [reissue]
2007
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Disrupt - Unrest [reissue] (Cover Artwork)

Review by: feeeding5000
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Published on June 8th 2007

Think back, if you will, to the late `80s and early `90s. In `92, I was running around and falling down a lot, but, considering the disparate ages of Punknews readers, who knows what you were doing. You could have been floating in uterine fluid, or learning how to read, or you could have had your first innocent sexual experience with an older cousin, or you could’ve started wondering why Mommy always had black eyes and bandages on her wrists. Disrupt were not doing any of these things. Disrupt were smashing the motherfucking state. For you see, Disrupt is a crust band. And smashing the state is what crust bands, especially early American ones, do.

So yeah. Disrupt came outta Lynn, MA right at the peak of the American crust explosion. Other bands from that era -- Nausea, Destroy!, Dropdead -- may have become more famous, but Disrupt kinda kicked the shit out of all of them (well, not Nausea). For you see, where Destroy! played Napalm Death worship, and Dropdead played Siege-core, Disrupt was firmly in the Extreme Noise Terror camp -- and before any of you say, “Extreme Noise Terror Are Afraid of Us,” ENT is amazing. A Holocaust in Your Head, ENT’s debut album, is one of the greatest hardcore punk albums ever recorded, and Disrupt’s lone LP, Unrest, is essentially a drawn-out version of that album. Unrest has recently been repackaged and remastered by Relapse Records, so it can be re-consumed by real punks. Really.

Now, everything here is straight-up typical crusty hardcore, heavily influenced by ENT. There’s, uhhh, 30 tracks of this -- 20 from the album and 10 from the Deprived 7”. It’s enjoyable, certainly, and it’ll get you angry about the state of society and the world in general, and it’s reasonably moshable.

I’ve decided to include a little checklist to show you how fucking crusty this album is:

Two vocalists, one that goes “rahr rahr,” and one that goes “blah blah,” like ENT.
Blast motherfucking beats, like Napalm Death.
Songs based upon the Discharge pattern, like…Discharge.
Sporadic female vocals, like Nausea.
Lyrics about animal rights, feminism, equality, anarchism, and pretty much every other libertarian-left cause, like every crust band ever.
A band name that begins with, “Dis-“, like Disclose, Disfear, Diskonto, Disorder, Disrespect, Disarm, Dischange, and the Dislawrence Arms.

So yeah, I’d say they pretty much fit the crust stereotype. However, Disrupt did it before it was as cliché as taking a band’s photo in front of a brick wall. At some point, this sound was scary and new to the States, and, I guess, even though I hate reviewing things in context, that’s what makes Unrest so good. If you’re just beginning your crustification, then this CD is as good as any to start with. It’s not the greatest crust album of all time, but it certainly deserves a place on the mantle of the abandoned home you’re squatting.

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 7:12 AM (EDT)

found the review really irritating but judging from the other comments it was just as easily likable - at least a bit of personality that is so frequently missing from .org reviews.

Posted by kenjamin on 2007-06-10 00:23:23

This review was amusing. Nice.

Posted by brown on 2007-06-09 11:44:47

haha! dislawrence arms.

I found that amusing :(

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 9, 2007 at 1:44 AM (EDT)

Awesome review, by the way. Is it sarcastic, yes. But why should that matter? He covered all that he needed to cover without using the facetious tone to conceal ignorance. And also, it's in the positive light and not the "I'm a fucking hipster who's anti-fun." Keep up the good work, I'll check this out when I get the chance.

-kliph

Posted by feeeding5000 on 2007-06-08 22:14:54

Yes, there is a 7"s and comp songs CD called "The Rest", as well as a deluxe box set called, ironically enough, "Disruptdead", which is only available through Relapse. As for the mocking tone, that is how I write. If I love something, it's fawning, and if I just like or dislike something, it's sarcastic. I'm trying to make them all sarcastic now, though - just for consistency.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 8:55 PM (EDT)

Good Review, Crust all sounds the same to me though. I just can't stand 90% of the vocals from crust bands. It is like you have to growl or scream to be the singer. You can't actually sing.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 4:44 PM (EDT)

Dropdead are a powerviolence band, but there is a definite crust sound in there. They fucking destroy this band, imho, but Disrupt are still pretty good.

Didn't Relapse also release a massive 78-song disc called The Rest as well?

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 2:48 PM (EDT)
My Score:

I love this album.

I picked it up on a whim about 8 years ago and have been a diehard Disrupt fan ever since.

Check out their other project "Grief" if you're into sludge or good metal.

The review comes off as a little sarcastic almost mocking the band. What's up with that? Disrupt rocks all crust as far as i'm concerned.

Posted by feeeding5000 on 2007-06-08 12:54:10

Oh, and there was a sticker on the jewel case that said, "For Fans of: Tragedy, Napalm Death, Discharge, Brutal Truth, From Ashes Rise, Dropdead", although it wasn't necessarily in that order. Tragedy is the most prominent, yet still sincere, crust band, so every time someone references Tragedy, it's because they either want to appeal to people who don't know crust, or the speaker doesn't know crust. Or, the band might just sound like Tragedy (this doesn't at all).

Posted by feeeding5000 on 2007-06-08 12:51:28

I was under the impression that there was a "!" at the end of "Destroy!", but if I got it wrong, then I got it wrong. And I'd say it's crusty grindcore, or grindy crust - it's not really just the speed of Napalm Death, as it's got the Discharge song pattern, but it does get really fucking fast. The vocals are throatier than Discharge, but aren't quite death grunts.

Posted by BrandonSideleau on 2007-06-08 12:39:03
My Score:

Why the blatant sarcasm?

Posted by miff on 2007-06-08 11:57:31

never heard of this band before so i thought id check em out
one of the "singers" does actually just go blah blah

Posted by strangenotes on 2007-06-08 08:43:08

"Crustification"

What does Tragedy have to do with this? Is that the go-to band for "crust" references?

Posted by theonetruebill on 2007-06-08 03:29:07

Never heard this, but I'm gonna check it out after this review.

Posted by GlassPipeMurder on 2007-06-08 02:49:46
My Score:

So is this crust or grindcore? because there is a big difference between the crust of Discharge and the grindcore of Napalm Death.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 2:41 AM (EDT)
My Score:

since when did Destroy have and exclamation point at the end of their name? it's Destroy, not Destroy!

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 1:19 AM (EDT)
My Score:

I like Napalm Death, but I think they over-do it on song lengths on most of their albums and usually somewhere around the middle I'm pretty tired of it. I feel that way about several crust/grind albums. I think bands like Tragedy and AssholeParade pull it off somehow, though. This release is also quite good.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 1:16 AM (EDT)
My Score:

This needed to be reviewed. Check it out if you like Tragedy.

Posted by GlassPipeMurder on 2007-06-08 00:28:32
My Score:

i haven't been able to get into napalm death or anyone like them. the lyrics and topic matter is good, but i can't get past the meathead-sounding vocals. i will see if i can find some of this.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 12:17 AM (EDT)
My Score:

Good review. Good music. Even though this genre is beaten to death I still can't get enough for some reason.

Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2007-06-07 23:59:55
My Score:

I've been listening to this quite a bit lately. I love the genre, but I really have to be in the mood to listen to it.