Band : Disarm Goliath
Album title : Disarm Goliath
Label : Own release
Distributor : Disarm Goliath
Release date : Fall 2009
Release : 3-track demo CD

This British band is far from being an unknown entity for us at Concrete Web…or at least not to me, seeing as I reviewed the band’s 2nd mini-album Man, Machine And Murder only last year (review posted 08/10/2008, and thus still available for your fact-finding needs about the band). Those remembering that review (or just having checked it out on account of my previous words) may remember I wasn’t exactly exhilerated about the band’s music (I even gave it a mere 76/100…which IS low by my standards), and even less about the singer!

Well, as it turns out Steve Surch (that same singer, plus bassist and only remaining original member) had already, during the past year, been thinking about making changes to the band’s line-up, as he felt that he had brought the band as far as he could, acting as the lead singer. So, over the Christmas break he went pro-active and started looking around at different singers. He came across one Steve Bell through the Internet…he liked them, they liked him, and the rest is history (still to be written).

After writing a couple of new songs, The band entered the Magic Garden studio in Wolverhampton during March, where according to Surch “Gavin ‘n’ Gaz…” (how now, brown cow…Wolverhampton + Gaz= ping = sound of the proverbial lamp flashing on…must be the former English Dogs guitarist he’s talking about here) “…done a FANTASTIC job in pullin’ the best out of us all…”…and frankly, that IS a good assessment of the situation with DG on this 3-track demo! Bell’s voice is a ball-cracker, slightly hoarse but steady, and with a nice occasional high pitch. Musically, the band still adhers to its Thrash- influenced Metal (of course), but the producers have succeeded in cutting out some of the typical sharpness which bothered me before! As a result, the new material is top grade, and this is the kind of line-up which will finally draw DA out of the grey Underground in which it has dwelled for more than a decade. They may not rise out of the Underground alltogether, because competition is stiff in the genre they cling onto…but at least the band now has a fair fighting chance!

To check my words for truthfulness, it suffices for you to check out the three new songs at myspace.comdisarmgoliath (where you can also still find a couple of songs off older material to compare). For the time being, the band only has gigs lined up in the UK, mostly in their own Midlands, which is a pity, because here IS a band I would pay for to see!

92/100

Tony.