Disgust was a relatively short lived metal outfit that released two albums in the 90's through the Earache and Nuclear Blast labels. Originally consisting of band members Dean Jones (vocals), Lee Barrett (bass), Steve Beatty (drums) along with Dave Ellesmere and Gary Sumner (guitars), the band's first album Brutality Of War was a potent mix of punk, hardcore and extreme metal. The band switched labels to Nuclear Blast for their sophomore offering A World Of No Beauty originally released in 1996 and now reissued by Metal Mind Productions out of Poland. At the original time of release the band was not only changing labels but also band members as A World Of No Beauty saw both guitarists exit the fold, and replaced by Kneil Brown and none other than ex-Motorhead lead shredder Michael Burston a.k.a. Wurzel, who's work with Disgust appears to be one of his last of the metal variety before venturing off into ambient chill out music.
There's no doubt that the band was firing on all cylinders here and the infusion of new blood certainly appeared to translate directly into the music because all of the twelve original tracks recorded for A World Of No Beauty are executed at absolutely breakneck speed, and the band's performance as a whole is remarkably spirited. From Jones' snarling, venomous vocal assault on these thematic compositions of war and destruction, coupled with the relentless and thunderous rhythm section of Barrett and Beatty, to Wurzel's manic in your face solo's, everything points to A World Of No Beauty being a mother of a record, which it is. Yet if there's one thing which holds this album back it's the lack of variety within the songs themselves. After the first three or four songs the listener has a pretty good idea what they're in for having been presented with enough evidence of their aggressive tendencies, however for the most part the band sticks to much of the same formula throughout the course of the record, keeping it hard and fast basically . This isn't necessarily a bad thing because in fact I really enjoyed the straight ahead balls to the wall punk / metal aggression, right down to the Dead Kennedys style graphics of the front cover and accompanying digipak artwork, yet I still held out hope that the band would perhaps change things up albeit ever so slightly, yet alas it did not happen. Andy Sneap's production work is also worthy of mention as he captured the bands uncompromising aggression perfectly. As for the included bonus tracks, they are actually live recordings that appear to be culled from a performance in Leipzig, Germany in 1994 which if correct would actually be the original lineup that included Ellesmere and Sumner.
Unfortunately this album would be the last release for Disgust until sole original member Barrett resurfaced in 2002 with completely different line-up. Nevertheless A World Of No Beauty gets a well deserved second lease on life through this lovingly crafted limited edition re-release so my advice would be to check this one out fast.
Track Listing
1) Intro
2) The Result Of War
3) Remember
4) Eden
5) The Last Embrace
6) A Mother's Bleeding Heart
7) Can Your Eyes See
8) Just Another War Crime
9) Evil Trade
10) Blood Soaked Soil
11) The Wounds Are Never Healed
12) Hymn For A Dying Planet
13) Thrown Into Oblivion (Bonus Track)
14) Relentless Slaughter (Bonus Track)
15) What Kind Of Mind (Bonus Track)
16) You Have No Right (Bonus Track)
17) The Light Of Death (Bonus Track)
18) Anguished City (Bonus Track)
19) Life Erased (Bonus Track)
20) Outro (Bonus Track)
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