Beartooth - 'Disease' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Greatness Or Death

2. Disease

3. Fire

4. You Never Know

5. Bad Listener

6. Afterall

7. Manipulation

8. Enemy

9. Believe

10. Infection

11. Used And Abused

12. Clever

Beartooth are back with their third album 'Disease'. After becoming the Post-Hardcore band everyone is talking about with pervious releases 'Disgusting' and 'Aggressive' there is a lot of pressure for the band. Due out 28th September - the album is a whirlwind of emotion.

Shomo explains. “Crazy highs, crazy lows, and lots of intensity. This record isn't about winning anything. It's about trying to even begin to learn how to deal with things. It’s hard to process just how dark you can get, what you can really put yourself through with expectations. It's like starting from the beginning all over again. At the end of the day, it is a very dark album.”

Literally kicking things off with “Greatness Or Death” - it pulls up all the best bits from Beartooth. Massive guitars, huge chorus and high tempo drum patterns, it’s nice to hearing Post-Hardcore at its best. Title track “Disease” brings a slightly slower paced Beartooth but still as emotional throughout, you can hear in Celeb’s voice that he relives the emotion with every note.

Now time something a little heavier - “Fire”. It has a building beat and is perfect for those pits on a Friday night but still a track you can sing a long to - Beartooth have created a perfect mix of their work from both previous albums. Back to it and “You Never Know” - a track which has a good response. It’s woahs and classic Beartooth riffs are a statement that Post-Hardcore is accessible for the mainstream market. “Bad Listener” is next and it’s screaming lyrics bleed through your ears, in a good way. This track also has one of my favourite lyrics of all time “I’ll be banging my head till my brain rots” - something I shall be doing.

The albums writing comes from a dark place, Shomo adds “Depression is something that's just ‘in your head,’ there's no reason for it, so it ‘should’ be easy enough to just get over, but I can never do it. It’s something unshakeable. I can’t make it work,” Shomo says. “I wanted to write an album about that. Disease really encompasses everything emotionally that I wanted to convey.”

Shomo’s commitment to raw and personal truth will always define Beartooth. “It's very important that I stay honest with every song that I write. I didn't even mean to start this band. I wrote a couple songs and I felt way better afterward. Especially with this record, there are no compromises. It is exactly what I wanted to make.”

Showing Beartooth still have something different to offer, we welcome “Afterall”. A track you will easily sing a long to with its soft and gentle touch flowing from start to finish. Now it’s back to riffs and there is no better than “Manipulation”, it almost sounds like it was created on Guitar Hero.

“Enemy” is becoming one of my favourites, it’s energy is placed just in the right place of the album. It will be circle pits left, right and centre for the live performance of this track! There is just so much going on, a wealth of talent cramped into one track. Time to calm it all down with “Believe” and it starts off with those ever present woahs which we are so used to with Beartooth. There isn’t much of a punch but maybe even Beartooth need a sit down and time to relax sometimes. Anger is what “Infection” projects out, the frustration and disappointment in yourself which we can all be a victim. A track which to can easily listen to and prefect for head banging.

Coming to last but one “Used and Abused” - madness is the only word I have to describe something like this! It’s all over the place musically but it works. Having a track like this towards the end of the album shows Beartooth are not running out of ideas. Last track “Clever” a peaceful one which was written in an afternoon at the studio, a fitting bookend to Beartooth’s darkest album.

Beartooth haven’t changed their sound, they have improved it. 'Disease' is a blend of both past albums, which makes it recognisable and exciting for fans at the same time.