Band:	Future Disorder
Album:	Sounds Of Catastrophe
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	2007

01. Shut The Fuck Up
02. Deterioration
03. Tap The Veins
04. The Future Disorder
05. The Storm
06. Critical Mass
07. Blame
08. .223
09. Benefits Of Tragedy
10. Chemically Sedated
11. Hollow Past
12. In The Shadow

Hailing from the Northwest coast of the U.S. - Renton, Washington to be precise, Future Disorder present upon the world their first full-length album after a decade of existence. Preceded by two singles, "Sounds Of Catastrophe" caters for fans of fat, chugging, groovy thrash metal in the vein of Pantera. Now I guess I should use the expression "unfortunately..."

"Sounds Of Catastrophe" is a prime example of good intentions ripped apart by scant attention to details. It doesn't start out so bad though. The production is downright horrible from the start, the drums sound like tin cans and the guitars and bass are quite powerless, but the first two tracks "Shut The Fuck Up" and "Deterioration" have rather nice songwriting and the hi-fat, southern-sludge riffs are enjoyable. Overall, Future Disorder's music vaguely reminds of a mix of such bands as Pantera, Crowbar, Corrosion Of Conformity or even Testament and Hatebreed. Nothing to really call home about, but decent enough to forget the horrible sound.

This is where things are getting ugly: beside the lousy production, the vocals are also a major turn-off. The screams are ok in a monotone way, but the clean vocals are constantly, blatantly, painfully out of tune (how can you release a song like "The Storm" and hope to be taken seriously?). Beside the production and the bad vocals, the album is not varied enough to be running over one hour. When will bands understand that anyone with a normal attention span can't take more than 40 to 45 minutes of variation-free, unatmospheric music without falling asleep? Although there are the usual breakdowns and a couple of accelerations, nothing is really memorable, and in the end this album is too long by at least twenty minutes.

These details, any of which would only be a minor incovenience if taken alone, are piling up and finally make this album quite a dreadful and catastrophic experience. What would otherwise be a decent album with a handful of good ideas eventually turns into a subpar release, irritating at first, yawn-inducing in the end, even more bogged down by the slow realization that this could actually be good, if someone, anyone, had paid attention to the damn details. There is still a faint light of hope in this world though, so one can only wish that they'll work on these points and come back with a more enjoyable work.