Disengage

Obsessions Become Phobias (Man’s Ruin)

With their in-your-face delivery and delicious decibel jockeying, Cleveland’s Disengage has rightfully earned a spot on Frank Kozik’s Man’s Ruin label. That said, their multidimensional original compositions and seasoned vocal delivery separates them a bit from the other volume merchants on the label. Take for instance, the vestigial spurned love song “Grew a Tail,” which almost sounds like Chris Cornell sitting in with Rage Against the Machine in the early Nineties. Channeling the local angst of the Great Lakes area, the quartet’s potent riff rave-up “Angel’s Night” is by far the best hang bangin’ and deeply felt critique of Detroit’s notorious Devil’s Night. All in all, Disengage thankfully eschew wanking solos for rockin’ tight-fisted grooves, as in “Every Sunday.” Neither is Disengage afraid to plumb the depths of human emotion, “Exhaust” being an existential love song harbored in a tube-amp wall of sound as high as Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. Obsessions Become Phobias is as strong as sophomore efforts come, and probably not the last you’ll hear from Disengage. (Friday, March 16, Emo’s Jr., 10pm)

**.5

This article appears in March 16 • 2001.

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