REVIEW: Designer Disguise's "Elwaer" via InVogue


Seattle, WA’s metalcore act Designer Disguise has released their second full length record; Elswaer. My relationship with Designer Disguise has been a bit outside-looking-in up until this point as while this is my first exposure to their music I’ve been hearing about them for quite awhile via the New Noise Podcast, which I personally use to find new records myself. So with the release of a new album and it being regularly advertised to me I thought it was finally time to give this one a listen hoping to find a new metalcore band to champion in a genre I’ve kind of grown weary of over the years. Unfortunately I walk away from this record ultimately unimpressed.


Now, to start on a positive note I will say my experience isn’t totally negative. A lot of the electronic aspects of this record, while a bit cheesy once in a while, actually do really grab me and draw attention to highlights of certain songs. Designer Disguise is also exceptional at tension and build up to the heavier sections of their tracks, see “Destroyer” especially.


Listen clearly, you’ll learn to fear me.


They also take some tracks to give some really strong performatives like the instrumental of “Lifeline” or the dynamic ballad “Infinite.” Both of which pull influence from older facets of mainstream metal.


Influence itself is both a blessing and a curse for Elswaer’s whole run time. While I do think this group is technically proficient and has solid songwriting ability most of the time it all just comes off as derivative. The rap verses on the entire album are, frankly, hard to get through; as if the lyrical miracle flow wasn’t tired enough in 2023 the vocalist does an occasional Fronz of Attila impression, who I don’t think is the band you want to be pulling from. Speaking of vocal impressions, there are a lot of songs or parts where I just feel like I’m listening to The Word Alive. In fact you could tell me “Lifeline” was a TWA song with a rap feature and I wouldn’t ask you any questions. When they aren’t just being derivative we still get songs like “Risen” with its laughable intro, uninspired chugging, abysmal vocals and an ai-generated breakdown.


That and this band needs a massive lyrical overhaul. There are plenty of moments I could nitpick like shoehorning the band name into “Digital Ghost,” the moment of absolute comedy that is starting the song “Everyday is a New Nightmare, but it All Just Feels the Same” with just about its entire title verbatim. And while I already covered the rapping to a degree this band really tries so hard to force rhyme schemes;


“We are under attack, the blood comes rushing back.”


I think at the end of the day my impression of Designer Disguise ends up being that I think they’re just about onto something but they tap so hard into their influences that they end up sounding like a parody of the bands around them. I sincerely wish I had nicer things to say but I will say it’s not such a bad record that I walk away with nothing or even feeling like I should write this band off from all my attention in the future.

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