Call me cynical, or just call me observant, but it didn’t take to me too long to figure out what genre of instrumental music Disappearer make. Care to take a guess before we get going? Eloquent post-rock? Not quite. Math-rock? Not even close. Jazz infused bi-funk? Fuck no. I’ll give you a clue, a really big clue. The three members that collectively appear under the moniker Disappearer, Ryan, Thomas and Jebb, have previously been in hardcore (There Were Wires) and metal (Doomriders) bands. See, it’s easy now… Disappearer is a metal infused post-rock outfit, much in the same vein as Pelican, Isis and Humanfly, and they do it very well indeed.
This self-titled EP is their debut release, and clocking in at over 35 minutes, it’s certainly stretching the limits of the term EP, just before it reaches that even more ambiguous ‘mini-album’ description. The attentive among you will have noticed that the Disappearer is only a three piece, something which is hard to believe when you’re treated to cacophonous and multi-layered sound they’ve produced, especially on opening tack "Crownfire". It starts with a piercing guitar riff, before crashing cymbals and a distorted bass complete the sound. Whereas in some other metal releases the drums and bass blend into the background, here they become crucial to completing the Disappearer sound, as they offer the hypnotic rhythms for the guitar to swing from different melodic progressions, whether it be strong riffing solos, or the use of an effects pedal to bring in an even stronger sense of melody. The bass is also heavily down tuned and/or distorted (I’m not sure, I’m not that technically apt), just incase you felt the sound wasn’t gigantic enough.
As "Crownfire" rotates between heavy, head banging riffage, flanged guitar effects, melodic solos and crashing drums, the 12 minutes of the track seem to fly by, which is a testament to Disappearer’s knack for knowing when one riff will become just that little bit too repetitive. Just as you’ve had enough of one part, in quickly comes another before you’ve lost your attention, a concept that a lot of instrumental bands fail to grasp.
"Rust/Dust" continues in the same vein as "Crownfire", starting off slowly and quietly, like conventional post-rock but still with that metal influence in tact, sounding not dissimilar to Red Sparowes and Bossk. Then the drums get louder and the heavy riffage continues, like a 3 piece Isis sans droning vocals, whilst still remaining in touch with some relevant melody and time changes to keep you occupied. The music is so layered that, like every good record, you notice new parts each listen, like the short high hats that burst through the chugging guitars around 5 minutes into "Rust/Dust", or the wah wah effect that pulsates in "Crownfire".
Final track "Universal Fog" starts with a drone-rock feel akin to Sunn O))) and continues at a slow pace, with the drums beating out a near tribal rhythm, before the guitars melody pierces through, setting a rather dark and disturbing mood. The heavy riffage is more dominant in this final offering, but it never reaches that dull, sludge like riffage that just goes on and on, something that I’ve found too often the case with Pelican.
Disappearer have a created a very solid piece of work with this self-titled EP, one which never gets lost in itself and is always providing an aural challenge and, most likely, an aural pleasure. Though definitely a more metal based post-rock offering, this EP is at times the missing link between the two much vaunted genres. It’s got the heavy riffage and crashing cymbals for the fans of Isis, Pelican, Rosetta, et al, but at the same time it’s never too heavy, never too riff based, and Disappearer offer enough in the way of melody to appeal to fans of Mogwai, upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start, and an even softer side of post-rock. If this is what they have mustered over a ‘short’ EP, then the full length will be really something, especially if it proves to be as an exciting and dynamic as this.
--James Ould