Vision of Disorder is a band from Long Island, New York, USA. The band's frenetic and socially aware amalgam of hardcore and thrash metal gained the band a strong underground following before their demise in 2002. The band sporadically reunited over the next six years for area shows while denying any chance of a full blown reunion until October 2008 when it was officially announced that the band would record a new studio album. Vision of Disorder will also support Slipknot for Slipknot's last two shows, which include the Palladium in Los Angeles, and Trinity of Terrors in Las Vegas.
History
Guitarists Matt Baumbach and Mike Kennedy formed the band in 1992 with vocalist/lyricist Tim Williams, drummer Brendon Cohen, and bassist Mike Fleischmann. Fleischmann left the band and VOD opted to perform during this fledgling period without a bass player.
Bassist Fleischmann later returned to the fold and the quintet went on to release a series of demos and songs on compilations before VOD released their seminal 7" record, Still (released on Striving for Togetherness Records) in 1995. This album includes the original versions of the songs Through My Eyes and D.T.O.
Around the time of the recording of that EP, the band was invited to participate in N.Y.H.C., a documentary on the New York hardcore scene. An in-depth interview was conducted with the band and two performances were captured; one in Newark, NJ and the other on their home turf of Northport, Long Island. The Northport show can be seen on the back cover of their 7".
The Still EP attracted a strong underground following, particularly within the Long Island's hardcore community. This was sufficient to earn the band a major label record deal. VOD's self-titled full-length debut was released in 1996, on Roadrunner Records' subsidiary label, Supersoul. It was lauded by many old-school hardcore aficionados for its mixture of innovative sounds built on traditional hardcore roots.
The album Imprint (released on Roadrunner Records), followed the band's self-titled two years later. This album received ambivalent reviews: many old VOD fans disliked their new creative direction, whereas many of the fans that Imprint had attracted appreciated the band's seemingly innovative sound. Imprint created a permanent rift between Vision of Disorder and some longtime fans who couldn't get past the band's mutated sound and the "raw" production values that their major label second record boasted. These "raw" production values stemmed from Roadrunner Records allowing the band only two weeks in the recording studio. The band was displeased with how the label handled the recording of Imprint and the two subsequently parted ways.
After touring in support of Imprint, Vision of Disorder became relatively inconspicuous within the heavy music spectrum. However, they eventually returned to the public eye, divested of Roadrunner Records and announced their plans to release For the Bleeders, a compendium of 9 demo songs that VOD re-recorded specifically for this record. For the Bleeders was released in 1999 on independent label, Go Kart Records.
VOD live at Irving Plaza in NYC, 11/16/08
Staying true with their desire to explore what they were capable of musically, Vision of Disorder released the southern rock-influenced album, From Bliss to Devastation, released on TVT Records in 2001. Using their own signature musical ingredients in conjunction with musical elements reminiscent of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, The band's TVT album debut was ultimately a commercial failure. The fans' reception was lukewarm as the old fans who withstood Vision of Disorder's approach with Imprint were even less impressed with this effort, and the fans who were introduced to VOD through their second record were indifferent towards FBTD's new and uncharacteristic sound.
Apparently frustrated by a lack of record company support from both Roadrunner and TVT Records, Vision of Disorder went on an extended hiatus in 2002, and eventually disbanded, as singer Williams and guitarist Kennedy formed the touring and recording metalcore band bloodsimple.
VOD reunited briefly in order to play a 3-song "mini-set" during a September 24th show with bloodsimple. , Berzerkers and Karnov (drummer Brendon Cohen and bassist Mike Fleischmann's current musical ensemble). The response to the set was positive enough for the band to play a full reunion set at 2006's Super Bowl of Hardcore in Manhattan. They reunited once again during the summer of 2006 for at least three shows to shoot footage for a yet to be released DVD.
In June 2008, a teaser trailer for the upcoming DVD appeared on You Tube. Shortly thereafter, the band announced that they would be reuniting again during the summer of 2008 for a hand full of shows. First to be announced was an August 16 show at The Crazy Donkey with fellow NY hardcore band Mind Over Matter as the opening act. As expected, both Patrick Corcoran and Robert Bob Foss were able to attend despite severe traffic that almost made it impossible for them to appear. At the same show, singer Tim Williams announced that they would be playing a second show on November 23. [1]
After an almost two year delay, it was announced on August 12, 2008 that the new DVD, titled "Dead in NY" would be released November 11, 2008 via Koch Entertainment. [2]
In late October 2008, after years of sporadic reunions, Blabbermouth.net announced that Vision of Disorder had in fact reunited and planned to record a new studio album for release in Summer or Fall of 2009. As confirmation, the band posted the news on their official Myspace page shortly thereafter.[3][4] Along with the promise of new material came an additional show announcement; VOD are expected to play at least one show on Long Island in May 2009, as well as joining Poison the Well on select date of the 10 for 10 Tours, which features 10 bands for ten dollars as the name indicates.
As of July 2009, the band is still hard at work writing new material with nine or ten songs written. They've already recorded one demo with plans to record a second that they will shop to record labels. The new material has been described as very Imprint-like with newer sounds as well as some classic hardcore tones. [5]
Discography
Studio albums
DVD
Dead in NY (Koch Entertainment, 2008)
Miscellaneous
- Demo 93' (distributed on cassette tape)
- Vision of Disorder/Loyal to None Split 7" (Hearsay Records, 1994)
- Demo 94': The "Extra Shit" Demo (Cassette, 1994)
- Demo 95' (distributed on cassette tape)
- Vision of Disorder/Loyal to None Live on WUSB Riptide Radio (Split cassette, recorded live, 1994)
- Vision of Disorder Live on WUSB Riptide Radio (distributed on cassette tape, 1995)
- Still (EP) (Striving for Togetherness Records, 1995)
- N.Y.H.C. Documentary Soundtrack (Striving for Togetherness Records, 1996)
- Still (EP) (Spain Import, 2 extra tracks) (Soulforce Records, 1997)
- Vision of Disorder/Nanchaku - Split 7" (Japanese Import) (Dea Records, 1997)
- Resurrecting Reality (EP) (Crisis/Revelation Records 1998)
- Imprint/Choke 7" (Japanese Import) (Dea Records 1998)
- Imprint (Japanese Import, 1 extra track) (Roadrunner Records, 1998)
- Landslide/Twelve Steps To Nothing - Split 7" w/ Dive, Uzamaki (Japanese Import) (Dea Records, 1999)
- What You Are/Jada Bloom - Split 7" w/ Minor League, Wrongside (Japanese Import) (Dea Records, 1999)
- From Bliss to Devastation (Japanese Import, 2 extra tracks) (Victor Entertainment Japan, 2001)darvis
Trivia
- Vision of Disorder filmed and released music videos for the songs Imprint (a track taken from the album of the same name), and Southbound (a track taken from their last record, From Bliss to Devastation).
- During the tumult with TVT records, vocalist Tim Williams and guitarist Matt Baumbach started a side-project called "DRAG", purportedly wrote 30 songs, and then languished until finally Tim Williams moved on to bloodsimple. with other VOD guitarist Mike Kennedy in tow.
- Fix8 was the original moniker for Tim Williams and Mike Kennedy's latest band, bloodsimple.
- Mike Kennedy found Vision of Disorder's name in a textbook while he was still attending high school.
- Mike Fleischmann and Brendon Cohen are members of a new band, Karnov, which played their live debut in Sept 2005, opening up for bloodsimple. on Long Island, NY.
- One of the longest tenured roadies for VOD was a fellow named B. Folly, who is now the singer for Karnov.
- Drummer Brendon Cohen toured with bloodsimple. during the summer of 2006, resulting in 3/5's of VOD's classic lineup playing a limited number of shows.
- Some notable bands that Vision of Disorder performed with during their career include Slayer, Pantera, Bad Brains, Anthrax, Stormtroopers of Death, Sepultura, Clutch, Sick of it All, Candiria, Static X, Korn, Cradle of Filth, Nile, Machine Head, Godflesh,the 1997 edition of Ozzfest, and will be touring with Slipknot on October 31.
References
External links
