Monday, March 23, 2009

Vision of Disorder – Imprint

Vision of Disorder
Imprint
Roadrunner




Coming up, Long Island’s Vision of Disorder bridged the Tri-State gap between the NYHC tough-guy hardcore and the discordant, jagged North Jersey metalcore. VOD was the middle ground between bands like Outbreak and Underdog and bands like Deadguy and Rorschach. VOD played this role so successfully that they ended up on Roadrunner. With the release of Imprint, Roadrunner tried aiming VOD towards Ozzfest glory. It sort of worked, but mostly didn’t work. The Limp Bizkit-loving, late 90s Ozzfest crowd wasn’t ready for anything that sounded even remotely close to Deadguy, even as lightly as VOD did. Long-story short: VOD was a pretty good band that took a ride on the major label merry-go-round and was destroyed by it. Well, sort of. VOD reunited a few years back for some live shows, but it ain’t the same.

I don’t normally give much consideration to metal and hardcore producers. This isn’t that kind of music, you know? The bands play their own music and are responsible for themselves; unlike, oh, I don’t know, any modern rapper who needs an army of keyboard-laden “producers” to make him sound tolerable. I bring this up because D. Sardy produced Imprint. Sardy recorded Far’s amazing Water and Solutions album and, here, he’s crafted the most powerful of VOD’s albums.

Anton Crowley does guest vocals on “By the River.” He’s even credited with his real name. Yes, even after all these years, I still have to give him shit for that. Even if Roadrunner considers it a disappointment, Imprint is one of the better records from a period when “metalcore” meant Earth Crisis.









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