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Diskord: Dystopics
22/11/12 || gk
Norway’s Diskord came out of nowhere this year and pretty much blew my mind with their second album “Dystopics”. The band formed in 1999 and this is the follow up to their 20007 debut “Doomscapes”.
What we have here is some of the most wildly inventive death metal I’ve heard in a long time. The production on this album sounds like it came straight from the mid-90s and its analogue approach gives it an old school vibe that is refreshing. The music is bizarre technical death metal that at various times brings Demilich and later Gorguts to mind. The songs are made up of dissonant riffs and strange bass heavy grooves that shift and weave their way usually not lasting for more than a minute at a time. At the same time there’s something very organic about the songs and despite the constant churning of riffs and ideas, the songs never seem like cut and paste jobs. There’s a unifying atmosphere at work that is beyond my ability to properly describe.
Mid album instrumental “Ambisinistral” is pretty much the perfect
example of what this trio does as the song lurches from mid tempo
dissonance to doomy passages with a solid bass guitar that alternates
between following the guitar and making its own little plays.
“Woebegoneness” is probably the busiest song here as it chops and
changes riffs and throws in a bunch of different tempos going from
technical death metal to doomy almost spaced out passages. “As the
circus leaves the galaxy” has a crawling dissonant riff that
effortlessly mutates into a sublime groove with a sort of free jazz
approach to its song writing. “Primitive doom” closes the album and
lives up to its name with another slow opening riff that explodes into a
death metal part. Like something Voivod might have done if they ever
played death metal. It’s the longest song on the album at just over 5
minutes and a spectacular end.
The three musicians in Diskord are accomplished and wield their
instruments with the confidence that comes with it. They’re never afraid
to experiment and the whole album has a spirit of improvisational jazz
that’s delivered through some high quality death metal. Also, that bass
tone is fucking killer and often doubles up with the guitars to create a
point counterpoint effect that is quite engaging. I guess Demilich and
Gorguts are the easiest comparisons to make but there’s something about
“Dystopics” that is unique.
Diskord has released an absolute gem. Superior musicianship combines with fearless song writing and an ability to experiment without ever coming across as self-indulgent. “Dystopics” is one of the more unique sounding death metal releases of 2012 and should find its way to a few top 10 lists of the year. Predictions and hyperbole aside, this is just a damn good album and should be heard by everyone into death metal.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: No Posers Please!
- Website: Diskord MySpace
- Band
- Håvard Østli: guitars, vocals
- Eyvind Wærsted Axelsen: bass
- Hans Jørgen Ersvik: drums, vocals
- Tracklist
- 01. Entropic Death
- 02. Overseer
- 03. Epochal
- 04. Tremble
- 05. Woebegoneness
- 06. Ambisinistral
- 07. Psychotic Process
- 08. As the Circus Leaves the Galaxy
- 09. Rambling Words from a Sore Throat
- 10. Metamorphosis
- 11. Godsends & Hellbents
- 12. Primitive Doom
