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Disguise > Human Primordial Instinct > Reviews
Disguise - Human Primordial Instinct

they misspelled the album's name - 38%

Noktorn, January 5th, 2011

Misspelling an album's name right on the fucking album itself is a pretty good indicator of quality (or lack thereof). Disguise misspells the middle word of the title of their debut album as 'Primordal' on one of the spines of the CD. This is not a good sign. The music is not quite as bad as it might indicate- it's just pretty uninspired for the most part- but still, not earning any points that way.

I guess this is a mildly gothic melodic black metal album; I would say who it sounds like but I'm getting tired of saying that black metal bands just sound like 'black metal' rather than any band in particular. Maybe a little Nokturnal Mortum in the synths- who cares, really. Disguise plays somewhat symphonic black metal the same way everyone else does: a lot of double bass passages under dramatic, Dark Funeral inspired tremolo riffs (minus a lot of the aggression) contrasting with thrashier, synthless passages that are generally way less interesting than the ones with synths. The vocals are black metal vocals (does that mean anything?), the guitars are black metal guitars, drums follow suit, production is adequate.

I would say this is synth-dominant music, but it really isn't; you just get the illusion of that because only the passages with synths are particularly interesting to listen to because the riffcraft at play on this album is simply not that entertaining. There's a lot of dramatic step-and-a-half melodic patterns giving a vague sense of demonic tension, but it's so generic it doesn't really do anything but sound like Marduk in their more uninspired moments. The synth patches used are pretty cheesy; a lot of fake harpsichord or generic 'wash of strings' sounds that come right off a Cradle Of Filth album from the mid '90s. Taste is not the band's greatest strength.

But frankly I'm having difficulty what the alternative might be. Disguise doesn't really do anything; the songs are static and motionless and this just seems to be the case of a band that released a black metal album because they were able to, not because they really had anything to do. To the band's credit, the instrumental ability on display is more solid than I would expect from an independently released Italian black metal album- were it only that those instruments were playing anything interesting, that might be worth something. Also, I do like the drum production, which is pretty cool and dynamic- a far cry from the 'everything at 10' black metal production I'm used to.

Yeah, there's nothing particularly wrong with this album, but two years of actively listening to black metal will get you past the point where this is impressive in any way. The Italian scene regularly produces much better, more enduring stuff than this, so pick up one of those albums instead.

Human Fuckin Primordial Instinct...!!! - 95%

The_Dark_BATTLEFIELD, May 21st, 2004

Italy is best known as a hotbed of power/symphonic metal bands, so it's always a bit surprising to see something else come out of there, even though the extreme metal scene over there has some good acts - they're just less visible. Disguise propose some fast, blastbeat-aplenty Black Metal that lyrically focuses on the current state of humanity in a kind of rebellious - if not disgusted tone, rather than on the usual Satanic theme. Of course, the booklet comes in handy to realise that, since in the tradition of Black Metal, the vocals are barely decipherable. These are a mix of of Marduk and "new" Dimmu Borgir (for the cleaner parts.) There's quite a bit of keyboards that are a bit overwhelming at times, but they're still tolerable (I guess I can draw some Dimmu comparison here and there when it comes to the keyboards, but this and a few vocal parts are where the Dimmu comparisons end - also throw in a bit of a NeChrist-era Nokturnal Mortum keyboard-wise.) Other than that, this is slightly above-average Black Metal, fast and raw, aggressive and with a mix of depressing and angry atmosphere. There's quite a bit going on here musically, the guitars are quite interesting when you focus on them exclusively - a few listens are warranted to really appreciate what's at work here. Fans of Marduk, Setherial, Darkthrone, Dimmu and Nokturnal Mortum should find something they like in here. This is not the most innovative release out there, but they use their influences well to do their own thing. And don't settle just for the music, as this band has done some good lyrical work as well. Recommended.

Hail the true pagan soul!!!....