Album/EP

Motionless In White - Disguise (Album Review)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

/10

Jun 4, 2019

7 min read

Motionless In White - Disguise
Released: June 7th, 2019

Line-up

Chris “Motionless” Cerulli - Vocals
Ryan Sitkowski - Lead Guitar
Ricky “Horror” Olson - Guitar
Vinny Mauro - Drums
Justin Morrow - Bass

American post-metalcore heavy-weights Motionless In White continue to kick goals with their unique sound and style. For a band that seems to be constantly touring around the world, it's hard to imagine that they would have any time to put aside to write an album. They did however manage to pull it off with each song offering something different.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIEc_11Aydc&w=640&h=360]

The album starts with ‘Disguise’ which begins with a tune I would imagine hearing as you turn a jack-in-the-box until the guitar riff and drums kick in, which is where MIW’s staple sound kicks in. Throughout the song, a very catchy chorus with Chris’s easy listening clean vocals comes through pre-breakdown. The breakdown is very well structured with an exciting build-up and follow through. Emotions are apparent in Chris’s vocals with this one. ’Headache’ starts off with was a basic guitar riff as Chris sings over the top. This song feels quite repetitive as Chris constantly screams “shut up” over and over again between choruses. Although this song doesn’t offer too much, the instrumentals are structured and written quite nicely. ‘</c0de>’ a nice tune with synth/electronic underlays. It seems apparent that this song has inspiration from Linkin Park. Being one of the softer songs of the album, it's not similar to any other on the record.

‘Thoughts & Prayers’ picks up the tempo significantly. With a really tight riff and Chris’s harsh screams, the intro will definitely have you banging your head! With references in the lyrics to the band's dislike for religion such as “handcuffed by Sunday fallacy, crucify the saint in your soul. An addict for plaudit you get your cruci-fix” makes their position on faith clear, this could also be directed at all the claims of paedophilia within the Catholic church (just a stab in the dark). Instrumentally this a great piece of music, the guitar riffs and drumming collaborate together to create an incredibly fast beat, especially post-breakdown. ‘Legacy’ is the album's slowest piece, with Chris producing a very minimal amount of screams. It's an easy song to listen to, but definitely had more potential, maybe the possibility of a guitar solo would have spiced it up. ‘Undead Ahead 2: The Tale Of The Midnight Ride’ is arguably the best song on the record, which brings the record back to the band's heavy roots and a stand-out, catchy chorus. With world class instrumentals delivering a strong sound as well as frontman Chris’ superb, deep screams makes loving this song so easy. Be careful when you listen to this song though, you may need to call a tow truck as the break down is balls to wall heavy.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYG2kaZ5OfQ&w=640&h=360]

‘Holding Onto Smoke’ and ‘Another Life’ are more examples of how MIW manage to keep their instrumentals flowing so immensely in a slower song which creates an easy listening experience, the main focus however seems to be on Chris’s vocals as he shows off his range with his clean vocals. In ‘Holding Onto Smoke’ vocalist Chris sings about his struggles in day to day life but how he manages to keep pushing through. ‘Broadcasting From Beyond The Grave: Death Inc” starts off with what sounds like an old radio recording of a man saying “good evening, you’re listening to broadcasting from beyond the grave, tonights chilling episode, death incorporated” then the song kicks into gear from there. This piece of music seems to have strong influences from Marilyn Manson as well as EDM which doesn’t seem to work too well, the song feels quite sloppy and all over the place in terms of its structure and instrumentally it is very repetitive with basic chords and notes. ‘Brand New Numb’ starts off with a short acoustic riff followed by the words “I’m trying to fucking record this”, after which the same riff continues on with an electric guitar. This song is the most pop-inspired track on the album, as well as being the most ‘radio’ song. It's basic and slow but written and put together really well structure wise. ‘Catharsis’ is another slow, yet catchy piece which happens to sound similar to Bring Me The Horizon’s newer material.

Motionless In White have done it again, although not all songs are great there is a healthy mix of different styles and genres which would tailor to anyone's music tastes. With not one song sounding similar to another, its a bag of all sorts!