DISTURBED: But civil.

What’s that you say? Never heard of them?

Well, it’s possible you’re living in a closet or something, certainly, but there does seem to be an us-against-them vibe going on with the Portland music scene and just about everywhere else. And I’m as guilty as anyone. While I often write about bands putting on CD release shows at the Big Easy, SPACE, Empire, Geno’s, etc., it’s pretty rare that I take note of a release show at Rumors in Skowhegan, or the Kave in Bucksport, or the White Birches in Ellsworth, or the Mirage in Old Orchard Beach. We are the Portland Phoenix, after all. And it’s also true that Skowhegan is about as close to Portland as Boston is. But let’s be honest: Us Mainers stick together. When people get poisoned in New Sweden, we care. Even if New Sweden is about as close as New York City.

And when a talented band like Civil Disturbance put out an album like The Battle Within we ought to care because we need to start thinking bigger. As in: Portland=63,000 people; Maine=1.3 million people. If the same all-of-Maine that cares about people putting arsenic in the coffee also cares about our state’s best bands, those bands have a better shot of making being a band a full-time job.

You can get a taste of the non-love the out-of-town Civil Disturbance are feeling right in their liner notes: “To everyone who hasn’t supported or believed in us, we thank you for giving us that much more motivation to succeed.” Whether that’s all in their heads, or a reflection of some reality, it’s unclear. The album itself is full of dichotomies indicated by its title; constantly, the lyrics outline a struggle between the pulls of good and evil, between the instinct to just give up and the desire to keep on keepin’ on.

As an opener, “Pulling Me Down,” with crunching and slightly digitized guitars and drums more subtle than you’d think, puts the struggle at the forefront. “Well I can’t hold on any longer,” sings frontman Matt (this is one of those bands that don’t use last names) in a solid baritone, “Fate’s taking over/Life’s grip is getting stronger/And pulling me farther down.” This final syllable is extended way out, as the band quiets behind it, eventually getting down to a bass so low it’s like a rubber band being plucked at the low end of our human hearing spectrum. It’s very singable from the get-go, and you quickly realize that this band is more in the Iron Maiden/Megadeth/Pantera school of heavy than some of today’s hardcore types.

There’s lots of down-tuning, and that metal convention of beginning a song with echoing bass guitar and sweetly sung vocals, then opening up into a full-band thrash-down, but the lead vocals are consistently above average and many of the arrangements show creative forethought.

After two four-minute tunes and a six-minute number, “If” is a crisp 2:33 piece that’s quick as a jackrabbit and features guitars like chainsaws from Tiffts and Kris backing an almost-country delivery from Matt. Then, as the verse opens up, there are single guitar notes ringing out behind the rapid vocals, a great contrast established between the early rapidity of the instruments and the later vocal energy. Following the second chorus, the song breaks down to just Steve’s thrumming bass and Nikko’s calculated drumming, before we’re introduced to a spoken-word bridge.

The title track introduces backing vocals for the first time, with a breathy verse contrasted with a heavily guttural, growling backing vocal, a solid representation of the song’s general idea, that there’s a battle going on for the guy’s soul (get it?). Listen for the central guitar lick as it goes in runs of four, finishing up on the first three, then darkening down for the fourth lick, like he’s losing the battle. “I can’t gain control,” we’re warned, “what the fuck is happening?”

That’s the album’s single, and there’s a kind of funny radio edit included on the disc as well, where all of the swears are swallowed or just ignored, but for my money “Solace” is the radio tune here. With more of the distorted, spacey bass and the quiet singing in the open, we’re quickly taken to an ultra-poppy chorus, which might be American Idol/Daughtry ready (and that’s not a criticism, I swear). “I’ll take things as they are/And I’ll remember what I’ve learned/And though it may seem hopeless/I’m really not concerned,” Matt tells us: “The person that I was/Is not the man I am today” After the second chorus, a “Free Bird”-like solo emerges, cementing a Southern rock vibe and the fact that it’s virtually impossible to pigeon-hole this band as just another metal outfit.

Maybe it’s true that there is a Portland taste, and another taste that more readily suits some of our more rural environs, a more cosmopolitan desire for literary indie rock contrasted with a ready store of disenfranchised anger, but I get the feeling that Civil Disturbance don’t really care. In “Comfortable Destruction,” they declare it’s “time for a beating.” Portland, you’ve been warned.

On the Web
Civil Disturbance: www.myspace.com/civildisturbance1070

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com .