Diskord – Doomscapes/Aural Abjection Reissue 2CD
It’s always exciting to pick up on a band that has slipped beneath the radar, which is all too common an occurrence in today’s endless cultivation of bands that rise to the surface, to get turned back beneath the tundra thanks to a marketing void in their business plan. Having formed in 2001, Norway’s Diskord have been treading water for 12 years, but this doesn’t mean they deserve to be cast asid. No. In fact, Hellthrasher Productions has just reissued as a 2CD set, the bands Aural Abjection demo and debut full-length, Doomscapes. And to these weird proggy death appreciating ears, Diskord were fighting against the current of redundant death dealers to arrive at their own highly developed sound.
Starting off chronologically, the Aural Abjection demo is a 9 track descent into old flavored death metal, with lively music and song structure ideas that were kissed by a prog friskiness in interesting note based riffs and overall forward thinking delivery. The muddy, but clean sounding recording feels like a proper studio session on the cheap, but the overall sound allows the band to prosper with their own sonic identity, even though at times the meatiness of the bass guitar and general feel makes me think of a busier and cleaner Severed Survival (Autopsy), or another traditional death band that arose from that era. The treble-less drape over this material does siphon a bit of energy and overall aggression away, but the material is so well considered and written with a solid mid-ranged growler at the helm, that the demo does a great service in introducing this talented band to fans of death metal with a soul! That and the song “Cease of Existence” completely rules with the odd time changes and intense riffing.
Moving on to 2007’s Doomscapes… there’s the grit in the guitar tone I was looking for! Right away, An Architechtonic Manisfestation of Death greets our ears with a fantastically interesting attack of technicality, but not too much; furious riffing that weaves imaginative song structures and that slightly sickened Autopsy influence as previously mentioned to hold all the extraneous elements that Diskord are expertly sculpting together. The bass is thankfully coherent and a vital part of their sound as witnessed on the jazz influenced Instauration. “Cosmic Collapse” digs in with blasting perfection in the drum work, while slower note dominant scales offers an odd, though pleasing counter offensive over the raging storm.
True to their name in every sense of the word, Diskord are a breath of fresh air with their memorable technicality and flair for embracing the ancient greatness of death metal. They effortlessly achieve intensity in the way they play, plus their open minded approach to songwriting by way of implementing several different non-metal genres within their well thought out presentation gives them endless options and directions to fight with their music. Every song feels like a journey and no matter how “out there” they get, Diskord keeps their core deathly and complex. Great reissue! Thanks Hellthrasher for sending this one in. I’m super interested to hear how this band progressed as they are still together and putting out material. –Marty
Hellthrasher Productions
Tracks from the Demo:
Live:
Worm Gear 
I told you so, but nobody listens, boohooo. hehe. I had to say it. This is one of my favorite Death Metal albums in the last couple of years. There 2nd, Dystopics is also highly recommenced.
Thanks for reviewing this. I was talking to the drummer a couple of weeks ago, so I checked out a few tracks on Youtube, which were interesting, but I couldn’t get a real sense of what the records would be like in their entirety. This served as incentive to make a purchase though (and Hellthrasher announced shipping about an hour later – excellent stuff!)
Glad to hear we inspired you to dig in to some excellent music. I guess that means we’re doing our job!! Diskord are great…. haven’t been able to get away from the 2CD set once I finally started to spin it. So well written with an inventive and authentic sound. Enjoy!
Will check out their 2nd for sure Patrick. I hear people recommending stuff all the time and would love nothing more that to sit down and endlessly research, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day!
Some things can’t be ignored. Just don’t listen to other people and just listen to me, ol’ jack burton will steer your right ; )
“You know what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like this …”
“Who?”
“Jack Burton! Me!”
IndEEEd! hehehe
Marty: ” You play your cards right, you might just live to tell about it”…