I can safely say I had no idea what to expect from Philly’s DISAPPEARANCES based on the unsettling cover of their latest release, Meat Clown. It definitely wasn’t the ’90s-influenced powerviolence/hardcore featured across ten tracks of blastbeats, quick tempo changes, and shrieking vocals. At times, it reminded me of the LOCUST, a band I’ve always had a soft spot for. While not really in my wheelhouse, I enjoyed it.
This cassette got me immediately into a frenzy. Just the kind of harsh and vicious noise that’s so needed in times like these. This is the third release by Philadelphia’s DISAPPEARANCES, ten songs full of short, intense, and brutal spurts of vile. The powerviolence influence is there, but I would say that it’s just the template for more angular and dissonant leanings (think of ’90s bands like BORN AGAINST and RORSCHACH), with just the right amount of breakdowns to keep things dynamic and interesting. Lyrics can certainly be bleak, but that’s just how the world really is. They really know how to weave the personal and the private within the structural and systemic. There’s humor in there too, a self-deprecating and black one. “Blue” is my favorite of the bunch, it has a really cathartic feel to it. Would love to hear this in a live setting.
