Disperse Forgets Variety and Texture On "Foreword"

A good djent record manages to create beautiful layers of music with thrilling, heavy sections in between, bringing each song to a record high. Disperse is one such band that falls into the genre, but their album doesn't really act as a strong example of the genre. Disperse forgets variety and texture on Foreword making it an entirely bland and weak record.

When it begins, it sounds as if there's a lot of promise in it. 'Stay' has a sort of anthemic feeling to it, the deep bass ringing with a sort of growl to contrast it. It rings optimism in nearly every aspect while still maintaining some darkness to it, finding that crossroad between optimistic progressive rock sound and djent rage. Sweet guitars in the verses are contrasted by jagged powerchords in between, staying close to the heart of djent. 'Surrender' falls through similarly, though while being pretty average, has thrilling, driving drums and thick guitars to power it.

From there on out, it's really just downhill. There are very few places you can comment on anywhere in this record about anything in general - it's incredibly bland and formulaic, making it a very boring listen. The spiraling guitars and generally more urgent vibe in 'Tomorrow' is almost refreshing, and the almost poppy sound of 'Tether' makes for a new kind of sound, though the latter doesn't really feel developed enough to make the idea sound really great.

The end of the record is fully forgettable. It's like Disperse took several songs, ripped them off, and made more boring versions of them. You forget the nine and a half minute long track 'Does It Matter How Far?' because literally nothing of interest happens within the track. It's astounding at how standard this track is - there is no reason that it needs to be so long. 'Neon' feels weakly mixed, making it just purely uninteresting. It offers up absolutely nothing. Just when it sounds like something may be looking up for the record at the end with 'Kites,' the band goes and ruins the vibe of the really creepy sounding vocals with an instrumental that can't decide what it wants to be.

Disperse had the right intentions on Foreword, but they really end up falling short. All of them. There isn't a single moment on this record that really defines it. Perhaps its the boredom and lack of power in every track that epitomizes it. There's so many places that sound like they could've used some more development to make actually decent tracks, but in the end it's just fully uninteresting.

Favorite Track: Tether

Least Favorite Tracks: the entire second half of the record

Rating: 35 / 100

Buy or listen to Foreword here: