Disintegrate aren’t disappearing anytime soon!

Recently, made their mark on the metal world by unleashing their thrashing debut ‘Parasites Of A Shifting Future.’ Aside from featuring guest spots from Jord Otto from ReVamp and Claudia from Lyonite, the album features a strong aggressive melody base while at the same time inducing plenty of headbanging and thought provoking lyrics that aren’t the usual ‘generic’ stuff that some thrash bands usually put out these days. The group is far from done in their quest to get their ideas out to the world’s ears and has already begun work for their second album while promoting their debut. I got a chance to talk with the band about the origins, current opinions, and future plans, and this is what they had to say…

Hello, how’s it going? Congratulations on the recent unleashing of your first debut album.
Thanks! Things are going just great right now. We’ve have just released our first album and we’re already bursting with ideas for the second. We’ve got some good reviews coming in, so yeah… Things are going great.

Care to discuss the concept you had behind the album or is it pretty self-explanatory?
For our first album, ‘Parasites of a Shifting Future,’ we’ve tried to write songs, instead of cramming several parts together and calling it songs. Our emphasis was really on the structure and diversity of the songs and to give each song its own character. So ‘Parasites…’ isn’t an actual concept album, but we’ve certainly put a lot of thought into it. Lyrically, the album deals with issues like politics and our personal history.

Any particular tracks you feel deserve special mention for the fans/readers, either to their meaning or how the writing process came about?
A particular song I’d like to mention is “Shatter Them” for which we‘ll be doing a video soon. It’s a song that, in my opinion, has all the elements that make Disintegrate. And let’s not forget the song “The Art of Clairvoyance”, which features a solo by Jord Otto from ReVamp.

A particular standout track for me when I reviewed the album was “Subtle Decay,” especially since it featured a guest spot from Claudia from the band Lyonite. It is a one of kind on your album and I was just wondering why you chose her to sing on it?
We we’re playing with the idea to do a song with female vocals and wrote a song to that end, but finding the right vocalist proved to be quite the trial. Eventually we saw Claudia playing with Lyonite and it made quite an impression on us. So we asked her if she was interested and she recorded the song a few days later!

For many who don’t know, how did Disintegrate come together? You’ve been around for a long time; since 2005 yes?
Disintegrate is actually a continuation of my previous band The Conjuring, which also featured Disintegrate guitarist Leo van Leijen. The both of us decided to continue with vocalist Danny Boonstra and so we formed Disintegrate. After several excellent musicians helped us to get started, we found a steady rhythm section consisting of bassist Sander Stegeman and drummer Joran Dijkstra.

What got you into metal, specifically thrash metal? What is it about the genre that really gets you going or gives inspiration compared to all the others?
Music can trigger emotions and as such, you feel at ease with a certain kind of music. When I was young, I was actually looking for something that stood out and was full of energy. And I found this in thrash metal; the relentless speed and steady pounding really drew my attention. Now when we’re talking about inspiration, that’s an entirely different matter... You can find inspiration everywhere and usually in the weirdest places. So for inspiration we don’t just listen to thrash or death metal, but to all kinds of music. I think that when you limit yourself to listening to one type of music, you’re actually limiting your own growth and development.

First metal show ever? What was it about it that made you realize you wanted to be one of the people on stage rather than just a spectator in the crowd?
Without a doubt that would have to be the first time I visited the Wâldrock festival in 1993. I was very young and seeing bands like Death and Deicide really got me into it. This was one of the reasons I started to play the guitar and that stage was “the iconic stage” on which I wanted to play.

Personally, how have you seen metal evolve over the years that Disintegrate has been together? What has been its strong or weak points and how would make them better if you had a say in the politics of the genre or music industry?
Metal is a genre in which musicians are fans of the music, and this strengthens the music they play. And for this reason, fans are important for the genre. Most of the bands out there do not make enough money to support the entire band and album sales right now are very different from the way it was e.g. 20 years ago. Another thing that changed over the years is the focus on guitar lead in the more mainstream rock/metal. While predominantly present in the eighties, they nearly disappeared mid-nineties and have actually returned in the last decennium. Which is a good thing!

So now that you’ve got a full length album under your belt, what is the next step for Disintegrate?
The next step is to write a new album and promote the first. As I said, we’ve already begun writing the second album and the songs are shaping up nicely. We’re hoping to record it this year but we’re not rushing anything.

What is your opinion of touring?
Doing live shows is part of the game and we have a few shows lined up in Holland. We’re working on a tour which should take us through Germany, and we’ll release more information in the near future. It’s always a lot of fun to play live.

If you could have the ultimate tour lineup and share the stage with any group, who would it be and why?
In my opinion, it would have to be a tour with Kreator and Dark Tranquility. I feel that we incorporate a lot of these bands into our own music, so musically there wouldn’t be an odd-one-out. Besides that, they’re really good bands.

Your fans are part of this whole metal engine. What do you like best about them? What’s the nicest thing or craziest thing a fan has done for you that have really impacted the band in a way that keeps fueling the fire?
As I mentioned earlier, the fans are important. They are the ones that like your product and support the band both mentally and financially (through album and merchandise sales). A very special thing that our fans do is to help Danny announce the song “Twist of Faith;” as soon as Danny screams the first word, the fans jump in and scream with him. The first time this happened, we all looked at each other thinking: “ WTF?” These moments really make it special.

Lastly, when not focused on the music, what do you like to do for downtime to just take a ‘break from it all’ and recharge?
Most of us play computer games or do sports. And we all like to hang out and drink beer and/or whiskey whilst watching movies. Good times!