Like a blast of caustic fumes from an open street vent, Disengage ascend from the always unpredictable Cleveland hard rock/heavy metal scene with this eleven song juggernaut. They join fellow up-and-comers Unida, Goatsnake, and Sons of Otis on the Man’s Ruin label, peddling an even blend of punk-influenced anarchy, saturated metal riffage, and classic hard rock dynamics. Obsessions Become Phobias exists in a world teeming with festering rage and decorated with images of burning streets, spider bites, and roaming primates. Lead guitarist Michael Callahan takes a diversified look at the world of hard-edged guitar, painting harsh landscapes with access to a fertile and variant palette. Echoes from the work of nineties giant guitar bands—Tool, Helmet, Soundgarden, and Corrosion of Conformity—flow through the album, but Callahan doesn’t mimic. Rather, he fuses these varied sources into a focused and blistering style all his own. He’s able to lock into a killer, groove-heavy riff and really drive a song (“Every Sunday”) or ease into a subdued yet ominous rhythm pattern (“Exhaust”) to create a dense atmosphere. Singer Jason Byers deals mainly in devilish diatribes and anarchic discourse, yet his stark imagery does much to create a cohesive mood that permeates the entire album. His voice falls somewhere in the range of John Garcia and Dexter Holland, and on the intro to “Tyrant’s Blues,” recalls the detached, monotone delivery of Page Hamilton.

    “Angel’s Night” is a short shock of revolutionary sentiment, ringed in flame and representing the minimalist side of the band’s arsenal. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it strikes instantly with a simple, yet intoxicating low-end grind that calls forth Byers’ simmering aggression, but it’s Jonathan Morgan’s slap-happy backbeat that breathes vitality into this one. He never relents, blanketing the aural backdrop with strategically placed potflashes that reverberate through Byers’ last scathing command to ignite his neighbors across Lake Erie. “Nine Lives In Days” exemplifies the dynamic strength of Disengage, with its gradually escalating, double guitar verse riff (eerily reminiscent of the intro to Primus’ “Southbound Pachyderm”), percolating bass line, and quick time snare that burst open in a flash flood of electrified power. After two helpings of this pattern, the band shifts gears with a bridge driven by Callahan’s fraying guitar strings, Morgan’s bass drum, and bassist Sean Bilovecky’s 20,000-league-deep rumble. Callahan then offers a small taste of an unraveling lead run that sets the stage for one last indulgence of power, which acts as the song’s outro. The song leads us into the last half of the album; away from the pressure cooker intensity of the first few tracks and towards the small crevasse that barely separates hard rock and heavy metal. Only on the last track, “Girl From Emphysema,” with its frenetic drum and chord patterns and shotgun vocals, does the music sway towards this punk engine.

    “Obsessions Become Phobias” offers a healthy mix of different looks from Disengage. It appears though that their future lies in the steadily building, epic displays of dynamics that dapple this album, with “Exhaust,” “Nine Lives In Days,” “Tarantella,” and “Sunstarved” making up the main course of the feast. With a genuine bass rumbler delivering tremors from below, an inventive drummer filling in the open spaces, a ranting throat cramming melody into his tirades, and a thriving guitarist latching together a variety of textures, Disengage have the tools and an unique enough outlook on hard-edged rock to elaborate on their already burgeoning sound and hopefully top this refreshing offering.