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Vol. 2 (or originally, Volume II: Black Lizards Cry) was supposed to be Disgrace's second album, but due to their label going bankrupt and the master tape being lost, it took 18 years and cobbling together several advance tapes from various sources to even get it out. It's a shame it took this long, not only because it's a damn solid album, but also because if it came out in 1992 as was planned, you could have argued it was the very first Death 'n Roll album to be released.

Musically, this is a very different band than the one who bashed out Grey Misery, following the general trend of the scene by jettisoning a lot of the murky Grindcore and Death Metal elements to experiment with different genres to make a novel sound, in this case a sound that borrows from Vol. 4-era Black Sabbath and heavier Grunge acts like Soundgarden and Kyuss. This is still definitely a Death Metal album despite all that, and it's actually a very novel and accomplished one for all that, so much so that it likely would have been a highly influential release if it came out when it was supposed to. There's a pretty wide variety when it comes to the songs, as you get everything from more directly Sabbathine songs like "Bride's Wedding Dress in Blood" and "Mindblade", more straightforward rockers like "The Earth Silence", and the weird in-between tracks like "Forever", which sounds like the bastard child of Black Sabbath and Soundgarden. The production on this is damn good too, especially considering the process needed for even getting this album out there, and it really complements the warmer, looser style they were going for.

This is definitely what you'd call a lost gem, and undeniably a lost relic that was ahead of its time when it was made. We'll never know just how pivotal a release this would have been, but we definitely know now that it's a quality album that became a victim of circumstances that eventually got its rightly earned just dues. Well worth checking out.