The words "refreshing" and "metal" rarely appear in a sentence together, particularly when one is being used to describe the other. But that's exactly the case with Disarray, a to-the-point metal band straight out of Tennessee.

The boys have been trucking it across the country for the past nine years, putting out two records in the process, and making friends with GWAR. Their third release, In The Face Of The Enemy, doesn't put on any airs, it just flat-out rocks. Gimmick-free and devoid of nu-metal rap trappings, Disarray play it the way it should be, loud and fast. While the requisite bark-like vocals tend to dominate the CD, a couple of songs, particularly "To This Day", reveal the fact that lead singer Chuck Bonnett has a good singing voice, one that he should employ a little more liberally.

Okay, one little gimmick hides in the fact that GWAR's Oderus Urungus, a.k.a. Dave Brockie, produced the record, and he, along with fellow GWAR miscreant Balsac the Jaws Of Death, appear on a couple of songs. A mighty fine testament to the band's commitment to their own core sound is that these appearances go by relatively unnoticed, except perhaps by the trained ear of a true GWAR fan.

While the band isn't doing anything original, they aren't doing anything wrong either. They sound a little like really early Soundgarden tempered with a touch of Slayer. The drums are nice and full, with tons of the starts and stops that belong on records like this. Bonnett's lyrics deal with the typical anti-corporate America, "what doesn't kill strengthens" fodder, and while the subject matter is familiar, he doesn't try to hide it with humongous words that belong in a post-graduate dissertaion on Nietzsche and cold fusion.

-- Jessica L. Harper
Southeast Performer