Artist: DISINCARNATE
Album: DREAMS OF THE CARRION KIND RE-RELEASE (DIGI)

Release date: 1993/ 2006
Media type: CD

Disincarnate was a part of the underground death metal movement of the early '90s, led by one of the genre's best-known guitarists - James Murphy. It was through his technically innovatative work on classic albums like Death's Spiritual Healing, Obituary's Cause Of Death, and Cancer's Death Shall Rise that Murphy gained his reputation as one of death metal's primo axemen, and after sharpening his skills with each of those groups, it only seemed natural that he form a band of his own.

„I just wanted to have an outlet for the new music I was coming up with.” – Murphy. “By the time I was in Obituary I had started writing in a whole new direction...it just happened naturally, from my perspective, but it was coming aut like a cool mixture of extreme technical death metal, catchy malodic riffs, and all-aut doom. It was way too far removed from what Obituary was doing at the time and they felt it didn't really fit their style. As soon as I realized that, Disincarnate was born.” Murphy started searching for members for his project in early 1992. „Vocalist Bryan Cegon and guitarist Jason Carman were playing together in a really young new band called Infernus. I really liked their ideas, and they fit my mental picture of what I wanted to hear with my music very well. The drummer, Tommy Viator, approached me at my work, the once world-famous Ace's Records, and handed me a tape. It sounded like the best I had gotten to that point so I quickly set up an audition. Tommy worked out great and his playing fit the music very well.” Murphy ended up playing the bass parts himself. Disincarnate recorded only one album during their existence.

“Dreams of the Carrion Kind” released in 1993 on Roadrunner Records was a minor masterwork of the death metal genre. While the lyrics matter were your standard grizzly death metal fare, some of the band's music detoured into prog metal. Taking elements of the styles Murphy had helped define with his previous bands, Disincarnate spewed out a precise. Progressive. And above all, vicious slab of death metal. Unwaveringly aggresive and grim. Yet never sacrificing structure and even hints of melody for simple brutality. Despite the intense musical ofering on the inside, and the macabre and brilliant cover art from Dave McKean on the outside, Dreams Of The Carrion Kind was not the runaway success that Roadrunner might have hoped for. When touring plans didn't pan out either. Cegon and Carman eventually enrolled in college, while Viator returned to his job as an industrial electrician, Fortunately, Murphy got a call to join his favorite thrash band, Testament, playing with them for several years. He next did extensive guest work with Konkhra, while also cutting two solo albums for the Shrapnel.

As for second album, Murphy planned to revive the band until fate took a nasty turn. "I actually started working on music in '99," he says. "I managed to work out a deal with Nuclear Blast for a new Disincarnate CD with me producing, since I owned my own studio by then in Oakland. I received the budget and outfitted my studio with a load of new gear, but shortly after that my memory goes black. I somehow ended up homeless and all my gear was stolen and I don't really know how it all happened." Luckily the possibility of a new version of Disincarnate has surfaced again: "I am rebuilding and writing new stuff – and I still owe Nuclear Blast a record!"

Whatever the future holds for James Murphy and Disincarnate, Dreams Of The Carrion Kind has already comented the band's reputation as one of death metal's finest overlooked outfits, as well as solidifying the status of the man himself.

TRACKLIST:

01. De Profundis (Intro)
02. Stench of Paradise Burning
03. Beyond the Flesh
04. In Sufferance
05. Monarch of the Sleeping Marches
06. Soul Erosion
07. Entranced
08. Confine of Shadows
09. Deadspawn
10. Sea of Tears
11. Immemorial Dream (Outro)

Bonus tracks:

12. Stench Of Paradise Burning - (demo)
13. Soul Erosion - (demo)
14. Confine Of Shadows - (demo)