| CD REVIEW Disarm Goliath |
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Band : Disarm Goliath You know, you gotta have respect for the people at Casket Music! Not only do they have a keen nose for new talent in their native UK...and indeed they've given many a later relatively successful band their first opportunity to get a release out...given several bands outside the UK a deal to distribute their material, but have also occasionally signed bands with which they apparently don't look forward to selling a lot of records...rather performing something more like a "Support Your Local Muci Scene" kinda effort! Heavy Metal outfit Disarm Goliath somehow fits in that latter category of bands, I'm afraid...although you've gotta admire Disarm Goliath's founder, bassist/ lead singer Steve Surch, for his tenacity. I've no exact facts about when exactly the band was started, but after consulting several info sources I was able to assertain that the band delivered the 4-track Look On The Darkside as far back as 1996! First to join Steve was drummer/ backing singer Karl Wade. More recently the band has added the young talents of guitarists Steve Beville (also backing singer) and Anoop Khundi to their line-up (former guitarists are Ben Oakland and Adam Strazzanti). Releasing a new demo with 1999's No Moon No Power,andthe '90sbeingthetoughperioditwaswhenitcameto newHeavyMetal getting signed to any of the established record labels, the band eventually decided to erect their own record label Godz Of Metal, releasing the debut full-length CD Only The Devil Can Stop Us later in 1999 (Oakley was still the – sole – guitarist at that time) To the band's credit it can be said that the initial 1,000 copy rotation was soon sold out, and following additional pressings, the album sold a little over 1,000 copies in the UK alone. Other copies of the album were sold on the band's two mini-excursions to the US in 2003 (one of the shows being at the infamous Whiskey A Go Go venue in Hollywood)and 2004 (climaxing with an appearance at Baltimore, Maryland's Metal Mind Rage 3 Festival).In 2007 German label High Roller re-issued the album in 9-inch vinyl form, on a limited rotation of 500 copies. In essence, it took the band 8 years to get a new (mini) album out! And it might take 'em that long to get another album released, I'm affraid! Main musical influences for the band are such great acts as Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, and Judas Priest, to name but a few...and in Steve's mind he only needs wait long enough until all those stop goin' on, then swoop in to take over! Darn, how can anyone elude the simple truth só blatantly it almost seems funny...in an awkward kinda way! He tries, but can't sing decently for the life of him! So, okay...the band could start looking out for a decent lead singer! But that ain't all, because the compositions on this mini-album are all (each and every of the 6 available) of rather average quality. Due to a somewhat under-average production (everything simply sounds a little too sharp), the tracks sound kinda simple in build-up and execution (though at moments one becomes aware of a certain potential underneath), so maybe what the band also needs is a producer (and really any one on the Casket/ Copro staff could've done the job) to work away the band's little quircky touches (like Steve's over-the-top singing style...ouch!), bring out their stronger points. From the writing credits it can be deduced that the songs were all still co-written with their first guitarist except "Working the Magic", which was written with Strazzanti, and album opening "Feed My Ego"...which actually sounds a little better than the rest...which apparently got a re-write from new man Beville. We can only hope that the new guys will be able to bring in a little more of their own...I mean, I can understand that Steve's been wanting to bring out those older songs for a while, but really wat this band needs is to work together to evolve! And no amount of positive quotes from even the biggest British magazines (check the "clippings" the band posted at myspace.com/disarmgoliath is gonna change my view on this band until they come up with a properly produced album! Check out a couple of songs (3 off the new mini, one older track) at the band's MySpace (I though I'd come across a site where you could listen to some 4 samples off the debut album as well, but somehow I seem to have misplaced that info). 76/100 Tony. |