Band:	Vision Of Disorder
Album:	Imprint
Style:	Punk, Hardcore, Metalcore
Release date:	July 1998

01. What You Are
02. Twelve Steps To Nothing
03. Landslide
04. By The River
05. Imprint
06. Colorblind
07. Rebirth Of Tragedy
08. Locust Of The Dead Earth
09. Up In You
10. Clone
11. Jada Bloom
12. Soulcraft [Bad Brains cover] [Japanese bonus]

Yours truly doesn't know much about 1990s metallic hardcore coming out of the East Coast of the USA. It was never popular in Oz and to be honest I've not really ever explored it, save occasional unsuccessful dalliances with Converge and Hatebreed. But whilst I don't know about metallic hardcore, I do know that I really like Vision Of Disorder's 1998 bruiser, Imprint.

Imprint is that rare breed of album that combines aggressive and brutal delivery with excellent and extremely memorable song writing. Highlights include "Twelves Steps To Nothing," "By The River," "Colorblind," "Rebirth of Tragedy" and "Jada Bloom," but the other six tracks are enjoyable in their own right.

Vocals alternate between hardcore screams, shouts and clean vocals ala those used by later metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage. Difference between Vision Of Disorder and later bands is that the clean vocals still have a rawness about them. They're not pretty but they work really well. And the band doesn't bother with standard heavy verse, clean chorus structures either. They mix it up and go on all manner of interesting tangents. Oh and yes those are a certain Philip H. Anselmo's meaty vocals and demented spoken words on "By The River".

According to the flawed bible that is Wikipedia, the band was never happy with the raw sound of the album. Yet the rawness of the sound makes this an even more pummelling affair. The vibe is almost that of a live album. It perfectly captures the intensity of sweaty, chaotic, mosh pits complete with getting kicked in the head by crowd surfers and necks moving in unnatural ways. It hurts but it's the kind of hurt you want out of extreme music.

The only part where the production hampers things is that some of the guitar effects and licks get lost in the mix. However the riffs are the main thing and they're loud and in your face as they should be. And there aren't any clichés here either. Even the occasional breakdowns have a life of their own. It still sounds fresh seventeen years after release.

Indeed this is the direction metalcore should've taken instead of fusing with the already overused At The Gates or In Flames archetypes. It's melodic, catchy and at times haunting, yet at the same time abrasive, brutal and aggressive. And instead of being covered in clean sheen, it's still gritty, organic and firmly based in hardcore's anti-mainstream roots.

So if you have to like just one metallic hardcore album, then Vision Of Disorder's Imprint is a great choice. And maybe listening to it again after all these years might just get me motivated to check out of the rest of the genre's offerings.