England's Mistress fuses a plethora of styles on their 51-minute album, which range from grindingly heavy death metal with deep growls, blistering drum work, and staggering twin guitar riffs to more groove-based rock'n'roll songs a la some of Entombed's more recent stuff. Throw in some very interesting clean-sung falsetto screams in the mix and you should have a fairly good idea of what In Disgust We Trust sounds like.
While the epic, old-school death metal riffage on the title track and "Happily Ever Disaster" set the tone of the album with ever-present chunks of grindcore elements that could be likened to Napalm Death, it is songs like "Static" and "Alcohole" that seem to distract from the general flow of the album. The latter songs are simply littered with punk-influenced 60's rock riffs and plenty of clean vocals that also stray into rather bland Viking-type of high screeches. "Whiskey Tastes Better" also features a lot of Euro power metal style high screams, but they're done so badly that you may think the singer is trying to make fun of those singers. Also, the way those high vocals are contrasted with deeply harrowing grunts surely provides interesting results. The guitar solos move between shred, blues and hard rock. On the last couple of tracks, the band goes back to playing dirty and brutal grindcore adding in some sludgy guitar work and clean vocals. The lead solos are significantly more technical and faster, but underlying them is still a vastly audible punk simplicity. "At Arms Length" is perhaps their most interesting offering. It starts like their usual stuff but quickly makes a foray into tremelo-picked guitars and black metal shrieks that may hurt your ears. This guy has a great death growl whether he goes for the lower register or simple grunts, but I just don't think he's that good a clean vocalist or black metal screamer for that matter.
I haven't heard Mistress' earlier efforts, but from what I've read, they used to be a more focused death metal act rarely veering from the basics of the genre. I personally think their heavier and more death metal inspired songs are quite good, as they remind me of Napalm Death musically and Entombed production-wise. Think of the classic early 90's Swedish death metal movements where everything sounds dry yet still sucks you in its dangerously heavy churning of riffs and blastbeats. This album isn't too different in its mix and production. On In Disgust We Trust, Mistress obviously wanted to explore different styles and incorporate other elements. How successful they have been is for you to decide.
Track Listing
- In Disgust We Trust
- Happily Ever Disaster
- Fucking Fuck
- Static
- At Arms Length
- Alcohole
- Whiskey Tastes Better…
- Me Ves Y Sufres
- Talking to God
- Shovel
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