Published: May 20, 2014

When an album contains an array of different elements, it’s hard to know what to make it as a whole. For listeners that like the less-is-more approach, too many unusual elements might spoil the music. But it’s important that you experience this excellent death/doom album as a whole before making a judgement.

Subterranean Disposition’s self titled is, in my opinion, essentially a progressive death/doom release. It contains plenty of variety and experimentation. There isn’t much ‘brutality’, but that was clearly not the band’s intention anyway. Is it heavy? There are some massive, rocking moments that make you slowly bang your head, so yes, it is – in the way that doom should be heavy.

When “Between Apes and Angels” (track 1) begins with simple, clean guitar notes, it’s hard to know what to expect. And then we hear screeching primates, a crash of percussion, and distorted guitar chords – but that doesn’t yet clear things up. Listeners are not quite going to know what lies ahead until they’ve heard the whole album. Fans of doom, death/doom, and anything progressive and unique, are encouraged to keep listening and find out what Subterranean Disposition is all about. The more you listen, the more you might find to enjoy.

The clean, enchanting-yet-eery female vocals on “Prolong this Agony” were unexpected. However, when they meet up with the deep, rasping male vocals, and the whole song takes off into a more traditional doom style, it all makes sense. Those female vocals do come back on other tracks, adding a  texture. I think people are either going to love this, or not love it.

“Wailing my Keen” (track 5) begins with what seems like an effort to confound listeners, who no doubt thought they knew what to expect by this point. It’s not a particularly odd song, but it’s different enough from the rest of the album to – almost – feel out of place. But,  the final 3rd of the track turns heavier, with a big, stomping riff, you once again see how this all fits together, and it’s a superb ending.

With an array of different influences in one album, who will Subterranean Disposition appeal to? It’s hard to guess at that; if you like progressive music that seems to go on a journey, you’re a little open-minded with your metal, and you enjoy solid doom riffs, you might love this album. If you like more straight-forward metal, with less experimentation, listen with an adventurous ear, and you might be pleasantly surprised by the end. I personally think this is an excellent debut full-length, and can’t wait to see what they do next.

Published: March 14, 2014

Australian born Terry Vainoras has been contributing to the metal music industry since sometime around 1997 and has never looked back. He's been involved in quite a few bands that have spanned a large range of metal genres, from metalcore to gothic metal to grindcore to doom and death metal. It's obvious that he's proficient in the huge spectrum that the metal world has to offer and now he has branched out on his own with his solo project Subterranean Disposition, which was conceived in 2011. Terry released his project's debut self-titled album, and first ever release under this band name, via Hypnotic Dirge Records in 2012, how well does the material stack up?

Each track on Subterranean Disposition is exceedingly long winded, with the shortest song coming in at just under nine minutes and the longest exceeding fourteen minutes. This is another unfortunate case where the length of an album works against the artist in almost all regards and the listener will be in for an exceedingly drawn out portrayal of a collective of content that is comprised of the most dull and generic brand of doom riffs, tempos and beats that can be imagined; to the point that it's difficult to say much more about the record since it doesn't carry a lot of substance.

The album starts off promising enough with jungle sounds coupled with apes grunting and shrieking as they go into a frenzy while hollow guitar picking sets in for the appropriately titled "Between Apes and Angels". Musically this track has a Hooded Menace like quality that sucks the listener in at first, but even before this nearly nine minute escapade is done interest dwindles a bit. Attention spans will decline into a numbed sleep by the lack of velocity changes and the exorbitant use of guitar picking becomes tiresome. There will be a shocking awakening come the middle of "Seven Sisters of Sleep" when loud, abrupt palm muted riffs begin to chug behind blasts of distorted vocals that are only obscured due to the decibel meter on the microphone going straight to red; sadly even this heavy duty section is just lacking, the riff isn't even much of a riff rather than a chord strummed twice a few times, then the distortion pedal is kicked off and the same strumming continues in a less toned manner. The vocal track does its best to incorporate different styles, such as whispering, spoken word, clean singing and growls; this would help keep the vocals from becoming repetitive if it felt as though the weight was distributed evenly, rather than the bulk being growls. The drums rarely get a chance to accomplish anything moderately impressive as the stale tempo of the entire album only allows them the opportunity to cascade cymbal crashes, some bass kick use and filler toms and snares.

To put it bluntly and trying in vain of coming off too harsh, Subterranean Disposition is a complete trod that takes the long way through everything that makes doom metal what it is, but in the most boring way possible. There are few tempo changes, almost as if it were a challenge to add in none at all, that diversify the five tracks. The fact that the tracks themselves are so long would warrant the need for some type of change within them, however it's kept to the tried and true monotonous picking, gentle drumming and death metal growls. The only real good thing about this album are the intellectual lyrics that are quite interesting, however they're not worth fifty-five minutes of listening time.

Published: March 4, 2014

"One-man-band" that comes from the other side of the planet with his first work on the arm that is neither more nor less than a full album, self-titled group "Subterranean Disposition". It was edited by Canadian Hypnotic Dirge Records label last year with a circulation of 500 copies. Attractions Who is behind this Australian training? For it is nothing less that Mr. Terry Vainoras known in the local scene by military in endless missing or bands like Cryptal Darkness, The Eternal, Order of Chaos, Earth ... The album contains 5 songs of Death / Doom and duration of over 50 minutes, so you can imagine how long they are songs. I would say it is a dense album that requires multiple listens as it does not come to the top, or at least I have not done the truth. "Between Apes and Angels" the first cut is beginning to slow bursting guttural voices that bring ponderous Death for later, switch to a clean with very timbre to Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride) enclosing the metal part, the aggressive and rabid core to return in a loop as described above. "Prolong the Agony" is unique in that it first appears in the plastic, the female voice of Phoebe Pinnock (Heaven the Axe) which gives the track a different feel since, his voice is not typical that we are used to hearing this kind of groups you know, in plan Theatre of Tragedy, The 3rd and the Mortal ... nor in Epica, Arch Enemy and Nightwish plan, is a say word "simple" average and I think there is where its special touch. Otherwise, the song that contains the fastest parts of the whole CD. "Seven Sisters of Sleep" dense matter containing some industrial touches mid-cut vent a little and make the listener does not fall into a deep coma . The letters in the words of its author, are based on the eponymous book work of the English Mordecai Cooke, but using a metaphor for addiction to drugs. "The Most Subtle of Storms" contains other partnership that owns the disk by D'arcy Molan and his saxophone, a rare metal formations instrument. The longest song with a slow and quiet central section ends with the sound of waves crashing on the shore. "Wailing my Keen" that closes the set and in which some influences or even something more gothic rock shows in the music and voices. Although not without grunts and harsh guitars halftime. himself Terry Vainoras has been commissioned to write, produce and play all the instruments (except for the battery which I believe is scheduled) although direct is help session musicians to offer their services to perform concerts. "Subterranean Disposition" could be material for dreamers ears for the rest as they say out there "good but not great." 

Published: September 21, 2013

From Melbourne, Australia, comes Subterranean Disposition, a one-man doom band featuring Terry Vainoras. Also of Order of Chaos and formerly of Earth and a few others, Terry’s newest project is a very good example of what to do with doom.

Five tracks spanning just under fifty-five minutes in length, this self-titled debut shows incredible amounts of doomy heaviness with more than a fair dosage of death metal riffery. The songs, in typical doom fashion, are epics; the shortest being a mere eight minutes and fifty-one seconds long.

Vocally, Terry primarily uses death growls. However, he also uses to great effect spoken word as well. My favorite vocal performance on the album is “The Most Subtle of Storms”, switching between quiet, effect-laden spoken word to a very powerful roar.

The music of Subterranean Disposition is slow moving, and very rooted in the traditions of funeral doom. Most of the album is ruled by the riff, and these riffs are monstrous and heavy. At times My Dying Bride is evinced, other times Mournful Congregation, and even a touch of Moss and Woods of Ypres. Progression within the concepts of the genre are presented, most strongly in “The Most Subtle of Storms”, which uses saxophone of all instruments coupled with an almost 80’s movie soundtrack bass swing.

In all, epic songs with great riffs that keep the listener engaged is the order of the day on Subterranean Disposition’s debut self-titled album. Fans of other Australian doom bands as well as the Louisiana and Philadelphia doom scenes should definitely take the time to check out Subterranean Disposition.

Published: July 18, 2013

Behind the name 'Subterranean Disposition' lurks the figure of Terry Vainoras, singer and multi-instrumentalist who has made a big mess in the extreme Australian Doom scene and over the years has made his fine appearances with creatures and Cryptal The Eternal Darkness. Subterranean Disposition instead is a very young project that plays only he and the artist has occupied a bit 'of all aspects that underlay the establishment of a disc, as well as having played all the instruments and sang. 

The self-titled album is a masterpiece can not be applied at the time: too many corners hinder what could be a total understanding of something extremely difficult to digest. This is not only of Death / Doom, it would be simplistic and offensive relegate the work of Vainoras to a mere proposal: the musician explores experiences moments that go quietly to touch the Gothic / Doom Metal ('Between Apes and Angels') but he knows compositions handle even moderately long (it exceeds 14 minutes) as "The Most Subtle of Storms" in which the mixture of melancholy epic finally manages to pop out. 

Certainly it is to say that the sound quality with which all these things are not up to the confrontation with reality much more famous but the courage shown by Terry Vainoras is to be commended: 'Subterranean Disposition' has its extraordinary elegance while still far from appearing marketable. It 'a disc full of many elements, perhaps too many times but it is still a debut overly excited watching so many different ways and does not have a lot of maturity, the rest is a debut and no one is claiming that a project has already arrived in cooking.

I have recently noticed a tendency that the more one listens to some albums, the more positive sides one finds and the release becomes more and more appealing. Maybe this conclusion is logical, though the constant flow of new records is endless and sometimes hinders one from distinguishing good things from bad. In the case of Australian project Subterranean Disposition, everything went to the better side.

From the beginning, the debut album of Subterranean Disposition sounded too diverse. Too much difference in playing styles, moods, techniques and other specifics. The music, though done masterfully, sounded too dull and emotionless. And only over time I felt some connections to the record. In general, the music of “Subterranean Disposition” could be classified as Death/Doom, but there is a lot more to the record. The creation has a lot of progressive touches and some strokes of Funeral Doom. In general, “Subterranean Disposition” is quite a melodic album and it associates a lot to my beloved Mar de Grises from Chile. However in this case the music is grimmer, more experimental, and depressingly rigorous. It has some strange pauses, sounds, slowdowns, female vocals and so on. But only as one begins analyzing the album as a whole, one finds that these tiny bits contribute to an astonishing overall view. This is not a masterpiece, an example to follow its innovation or modernism, but the debut album of mister Terry Vainoras (by the surname he may have Lithuanian origins, which is a subject to clarify) leaves an impression of a hard to understand, yet appealing release.

Rating: 8/10
Reviewed by: Odium

Subterranean Disposition is the one man death/doom project of Terry Vainoras from Australia and this is his debut and self titled full length album, released through Hypnotic Dirge Records.

Opening with “Between Angels & Apes” the slow hypnotic dirge like tones (Sorry but the label made a fitting choice here) is mixed with the sounds of quarreling apes before the brooding blackened mood intensifies and deep guttural vocals shatter the brief moments of calm. To temper the vocal ferocity though Terry used cleaner and more haunting vocals to keep things measured and dark. Musically there is an abundance of different tones and the riff-age peaks and dips effortlessly and quite unexpectedly the pace will increase and a more death metal element will break through for a moment.

Another key facet of the albums appeal is the little surprises it throws into the mix here and there to break up the slow momentum and bleak atmosphere, like the pace changes I’ve mentioned and the female vocals that come into play from out of nowhere during “Prolong This Agony”, all nice touches! So if you are in the mood for something mournful, anguished and despairing, Subterranean Disposition will fit the bill bleakly.

Although we Europeans can sometimes seem at first glance that Down Under in Australia nefrčí metal music too and the only thing which this vast arid country that is itself its continent, gave the music world is unnamed rock legend whose name is consists of four letters and a slash. However, there is rampant underground scene over live and sometimes of their bowels ejecting a pretty interesting group (about nejednomu of us starts to be not Obliviscaris , who last year surged absolutely phenomenal debut, however, far from being just about them). Now look at the other metal fad land of kangaroos, this time from the rank of doom / death metal ...

"Subterranean Disposition" is the debut eponymous one-man project, but the man who stands behind this band, that is, Terry Vainoras , definitely no rookie to the Australian scene moves already for some time and left the imprint of his name in more than one band. Now she embarked on a completely custom project Subterranean Disposition , with whom he sailed to slow water doom / death metal. It is fitting to mention, however, that although the "Subterranean Disposition" initially looks like a classic genre matter and there is no indication that we should wait there anything previously unheard doom, eventually, the album turns out to be quite surprising matter that has many very interesting and to some extent unexpected moment.

But do not expect any extreme antics and boundless experimentation. The base is fixed in the form of heavier doom / death metal, which sometimes inserted at the funeral pyre funeral doom metal, but it is rather exceptional. In addition, occasionally slightly peeks out a little ambient touch somewhere in the background, especially in the quieter moments, but it's almost more výjimečněji. Exactly in the same spirit carries introductory "Between Apes and Angels" along its entire length, and for a good-mentioned tangents I come across it. And for that reason, quite successfully listener the impression that it will be a completely classical genre matter throughout the album. And perhaps because of "Between Apes and Angels" finally became a composition that brings me to "Subterranean Disposition" probably the least fun. The most torque or nearly ten-minute piece is a passage shortly after five minutes, when do Terry leans a little more music for a while considerably faster. When we touched the length, there would probably be suited to deliver (although, to some extent, probably follows automatically from the number just five songs) that all items soundtrack of "Subterranean Disposition" move in larger time scale, where the shortest song, final "My Wailing Keen" , includes a few seconds without nine minutes.

But let's back to the compositions themselves, just as the second "This Prolong Agony" for the first time the full show to what I mentioned above, a demonstration of something not quite expected. In this case, the moment when the commemoration ceremony of the pervasive doom floats a little lighter moment in which sparkle guest singer Phoebe Pinnock from local rock band Heaven the Axe . Consequently, when the word takes on himself again the main brain Subterranean Disposition , added his voice completely, as if he were the author rather Snowy Shaw - until I had to see if Snowy the board also longer hosts. Anyway, this is one of the most significant moments of the album, which probably in memory will be enchanted by the first listen reliably.

The third "Seven Sisters of Sleep" is bears more or less in the same spirit as the first track, but it seems to me much more variable and structured, simply put it in the wrong noticeably more. I guess it will be the reason why I have more fun. Some melodic guitar lines here povedly really well and again it is approximately in the middle passage, when Terry Vainoras goes from quiet strumming in probably the sharpest passages on the album, which is the highlight of the song.

However, the greatest delicacies come in the last two songs. "The Most Subtle of Storms" (again) in his mid calm and gradually goes in deed excellent passage saxophone, under which gradually begins to bubble also very interesting rhythmic tapping. Definitely one of the best moments of the whole "Subterranean Disposition" . Still, if I had to choose the best song, I guess I finally raised his hand up to the final "Wailing My Keen" , which did not offer saxophone, but still has the most progressive impression of the album, as it has the most most variable structure, which is poured from great melodies ( The very onset) to classic doom dying to "quiet" nemetalové moments. In addition, there appears again the voice of guest singer, although in this case it is not so significant contribution as "This Prolong Agony" .

Overall, however, I "Subterranean Disposition" very pleasantly surprised, because I expected an ordinary doomařinu, albeit well made. Although this debut Subterranean Disposition in its basis, but Terry Vainoras on his album and managed to get such a extra spice, which is indeed used style, less is more (despite the fact that it is precisely this part of the music was a major focus for a review) However, it is still enough spice to make this dish doom proved very comfortable.

Rating: 7.5/10
Reviewed by: Monsterfuck

Subterranean Disposition is an incredibly interesting entity; although it is a one man band, the vast array of influences lend one to think that there are many more minds at play here. Terry Vainoras, the man behind the music, has had over fifteen years of experience playing with bands that range in genres from grindcore to metallic hardcore, to death metal and the doom genre. Now, that kind of experience would lead many (and rightfully so) to think that this would be a mixed bag of genres and sounds, but Subterranean Disposition shows strength in a very focused direction. It maintains a central sound while still drawing from many different influences beautifully, creating an album that is hard to classify as one particular genre. The unifying sound is nothing short of melancholy; there are no two ways about it. Subterranean Disposition is dense and overwrought from the beginning, and that depressive sound does not let up throughout the entirety of the album.  While that may be jarring and turn some listeners off to the album, it is important to note that even though the sound itself is devoid of positivity, the influences that Vainoras employs here are nothing short of groundbreaking when the whole album is taken into account.

While the sound works on the album as a whole, each song is a journey in itself as well. With five songs averaging out to be about ten minutes each, it certainly is quite a bit of time to fill up for each track. The introduction to first track “Between Apes and Angels” starts with a very post-metal sounding riff accompanied by a sound bite of apes going, well, ape in the background. The clean vocals that make an appearance on this song sound as if My Dying Bride had taken the microphone. In fact, most of the album has an early nineties doom-inspired sound, and it is the minor tweaks to that traditional sound that really puts the album in its own category. “Prolong this Agony” finds Vainoras shelving the death-inspired vocals for a minute and a half  in order to bring female vocals to the forefront, and as surprising to the listener as it might be, it works wonders for the song itself. The droning repetition that pervades most of the song is given an appropriate breather, without sacrificing the overall tone of the music. Subterranean Disposition ends up utilizing atmospheric sound in that way very well throughout the entirety of the album at just the right time, thus avoiding what could have been a bleak and ultimately boring affair. Instead, the listener is treated to beautifully-done acoustic passages that pass through as land markers for the heavier, doom-inspired sections. The sludgy riffs that make their appearances throughout the album are sometimes matched in a slow procession of instruments and other times accompanied by speedy double bass, creating an off-kilter effect on the listener which is very disconcerting. Standout track “The Most Subtle of Storms” even includes a saxophone solo, and it surprisingly does not sound out of place due to the ambient texture that is interspersed through Subterranean Disposition. Vainoras’ masterful utilization of crushing heaviness and ambient soundscape allows for him to get away with more than normal, such as the male/female vocal trade-off in song “Wailing my Keen”. It could have very easily sounded as if it did not belong on the album, but because of the morose atmospheric tendencies in the album, it gives the song a stronger emotional tie. The breathy spoken word at the end of this song is incredibly effective, more so because of the dramatic tendencies of the entire album.

Unfortunately, as is the case for forward thinking releases such as this, the positives can also turn into the negatives as well. There is no disputing that it is a daunting, involved listen. The song lengths themselves may turn some off, as well some of the more jarring sections within songs (the higher register and raw screaming halfway through “Seven Sisters of Sleep”).  It is a heavy album with no light at the end of the tunnel, and the sadness displayed sonically can be determined for each individual listener. There is certainly strong musicianship and songwriting throughout Subterranean Disposition, and the end result are five very inspired songs that are worthy being in any metal fan’s library. The only question is: are you ready for the harrowing journey that is Subterranean Disposition?