Style: Tech Death (harsh vocals)
Review by: Evan
Country: Norway
Release date: August 13th, 2021
After reviewing 7 death metal albums in a row, I decided to mix it up by reviewing another death metal album. This is no joke: Diskord has such a unique and diverse sound that it’s practically like listening to a different genre (or so I tell myself when I am flamed for listening to too much death metal).
Weird death metal is the best kind, and Degenerations is the perfect kind of weird, with chaotic style and tempo changes many times per song somehow fitting together cohesively. Each song mixes together old school death metal with prog, tech, doom, psych and experimental. The embedded track, “Abnegations,” is a perfect example, mixing together crushing doom with fast dissonant riffing, dazzling solos, and incredibly varied harsh vocal techniques. It is difficult to count how many times the tempo and style shifts in this track alone. And that is only the third track of the album: many later tracks are somehow even more unhinged. The FFOs section for this band is truly a nightmare, because it would not be a challenge to find countless bands from various sub-genres whose sound is expertly used by Diskord.
One of the greatest aspects of Degenerations, however, is that while each song features experimentation, Diskord favors tight song-writing, with few tracks even hitting the four minute mark, and none the five minute mark. This makes the number of ideas fit into each track even more impressive. Diskord’s song structures are also completely unpredictable, leaving each track with a unique identity. Explaining every track on the album would be such an exhausting endeavor. Ultimately, at many places I have no idea how the album works, just that it does, and that is good enough.
Beyond the style and song writing, Degenerations features strong performances from every member. As mentioned, the guitar riffing is impressively eclectic. The guitars are backed by strong bass lines that are reminiscent of old school, jazz influenced tech death. The drumming rounds the spectrum as well, delivering pummeling blast beats or intense polyrhythms whenever needed. The vocals are surprisingly varied as well, including shrieks, growls, and screams. Vocalist sounds like an absolute madman in the best way possible, perfectly matching the chaos of the music behind him. Lastly, the production is clear, allowing all instruments to be heard, but not to the point of sterility.
Offering proper criticism of this album is impossible: most of my usual gripes with some progressive/technical death acts (bloat, wank, overproduction, boring vocals) simply do not apply here. Through the winding path of each song, and the album as a whole, Degenerations takes its listeners through chaotic yet deliberate and old school yet inventive world of their unique style of death metal. And for that, Degenerations is not only my favorite new release of the year so far, but essential listening for all fans of technical/progressive death metal. This is one rec you should take seriously.
Recommended tracks: Abnegations, Dirgiste Radio Hit, Gnashing
Recommended for fans of: Gorguts, Demilich, Pyrrhon
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Diskord is:
– Dmitry Soukhinin (guitars/vocals)
– Eyvind Wærsted Axelsen (bass/vocals)
– Hans Jørgen Ersvik (drums/vocals)
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