The Metal Resource – mauce.nl

With a career spanning 20 years, Disciple has consistently turned out great albums. My introduction to them was their self-titled album in 2005 following their signing to INO Records. Their style changed to a mixture of hard rock and southern metal for ‘Southern Hospitality’ (2008) and continued in the hard rock vein for ‘Horseshoes & Handgrenades’ (2010) and ‘O God Save Us All’ (2012). In early 2014, they launched a kickstarter campaign for the independent release of ‘Attack’.

Kevin Young stated “I thought about this new album for a year before we started in the studio, and I knew that the lyrics would be the boldest Disciple has ever put on a record. I wanted to talk about Jesus loudly and without shame. That’s why “Radical” is the first track and our first single. It sets the tone for what we want people to hear. We talk about Jesus openly at every show. We do an altar call. That is who we are and that is what Disciple is called to do, and we hope that people hear the new music and say ‘Yeah, now THAT’S Disciple!’”

This release sees the third major change in Disciple’s line-up with Kevin Young being the only original man standing. The band now consists of Kevin Young (vocals), Andrew Stanton (lead guitar – formerly of I Am Empire), Josiah Prince (guitar – formerly of Philmont), Jason Wilkes (bass & vocals – lead singer of High Flight Society) and Joey West (drums – After Edmund).

But fear not, as ‘Attack’ has retained the ‘Disciple’ sound as they used Travis Wyrick, who produced their first seven albums. Kevin Young commented, “I hadn’t worked with Travis in six years, but we knew this was going to be a hard, aggressive record. Travis recorded all of our hardest albums and working with him was like going home. We wrote this record as a new band. Attack is the right album title because that’s what we did with every song. Every band member contributed in a huge way to this album. Everybody brought songs to the table that we all worked on, and made each other’s songs better. It was definitely a well-coordinated attack on all sides.”

Given that this is a new line-up, they successfully recreate the classic Disciple style with the hard hitting ‘Radical’ as they declare their faith in God. They let you have it straight between the eyes with “Till the day I die / With my heart, with my soul / Till the day I die I’ll be a Radical / With my blood, with my bones / Till the day I die I’ll be a Radical”. Following swiftly on with pounding beats of spiritual fight-back in ‘Attack’ with its scorching guitar riffage.

Initially, the aggressive ‘Dead Militia’ left me puzzled, but after further research it led to heaven’s armies and Armageddon. Revelation 19: 11 (NKJV) “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”

They rein in the brutality as ‘Scarlet’ sees them tackle the grace of Jesus Christ, yet still impresses with muscular guitar and rhythm section. The huge stadium anthem makes its appearance as ‘Unbroken’. They re-launch with ferocious guitar on ‘The Name with “Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him / How I have proven Him over and over / I will not bow my knee to any other God but You / The One I live and I die for”.

There is space created for the new members as Jason Wilkes’s soaring vocals underpin ‘Angels and Demons’ and provides a contrast to some of Young’s harsher vocal sections. And ‘Lion’ shows off Wilkes’s bass prowess. There is a slower ballad in ‘Yesterday Is Over’, which incidentally is the longest track on here as it reaches nearly five minutes before the harsh anthem ‘Kamikaze’.

“You’re going down like a kamikaze aeroplane / ain’t going out till you blow somebody else away / You are the sound they hear before it goes to flames / You are the sound of the kamikaze airplane”.

They turn a corner into more classic Disciple territory in ‘Crazy’ as they enter a spiritual battleground. Finally, they get worshipful with acoustic guitar in ‘The Right Time’.

Their lyrics continue to be faith-filled throughout and see Disciple make further musical headway in the latest chapter of their career.

Rating: 9/10

Reviewed by Peter John Willoughby

Tracks:
1. Radical
2. Attack
3. Dead Militia
4. Scarlet
5. Unbroken
6. The Name
7. Angels & Demons
8. Lion
9. Yesterday Is Over
10. Kamikaze
11. Crazy
12. The Right Time

Discography:
“What Was I Thinking” [1995]
“My Daddy Can Whip Your Daddy” [1997]
“This Might Sting a Little” [1999]
“By God” [2001]
“Back Again” [2003]
“Disciple” [2004]
“Scars Remain” [2006]
“Southern Hospitality” [2008]
“Horseshoes & Handgrenades” [2010]
“O God Save Us All” [2012] [Review]
“Attack” [2014]

Record Label: Independent, Sept. 2014

Weblinks: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox 
Norway: Nordic Mission

Video below ‘Radical’