Where have the old Dyscord of the past gone? The truth is, I don't give a fuck, Dyscord on "Dakota" is a firebreathing monster band, ferocious, fast and metal to the core, and I fucking loved every second of it. What happened to make these guys pull their act together and start writing music of this calibre? I can't say, but I aint complaining. And neither should you, this album is killer.
Dakota has speed, technicality, catchiness, angry riffing and brilliant production all squeezed together in a package that is simultaneously heavy and commercial. This is unrelenting, unconstrained, free-flowing crazy music, skating along that razor-sharp line between raw bleeding metal and cleverly constructed songwriting. Dyscord could have used this album as a vehicle to expand far beyond this city and this country, it has that fusion of commercial elements and ferocity that bands like Lamb of God and Devildriver are riding all the way to massive international success, so why not Dyscord too?
To attempt to break the music of "Dakota" down into a particular genre is quite difficult, Metalcore is the genre that sounds the closest to my ears, but that label has bad connotations to so many headbangers these days. Certainly some of the songs have a core feel to them with hooky lines and breakdowns, but mostly the tempo is fast and there is a lot more going on than with many bands of that misunderstood genre. Other than the obvious simmilarities to Lamb of God, I can hear possible influences as far back as Slayer and Carcass, but there is also a flirtation with the modern masters of Technical Death evident in the fast scale runs and sudden flurries of melody. Guitars, drums, bass, the whole band is on the same page here and they all are playing their arses off, its hard to pick a moment that they don't just work together in hideous concert to bring forth the fire and brimstone. It's high caffine content stuff, fired up and just pulsing with annoyance. Yep, it's my kinda metal alright.
Dyscord on "Dakota" sound a bit like Grip Inc during the "Power of Inner Strength" era only with good vocals instead of the awful vocals of Gus Chambers (RIP), and in fact the vocals are exceptional throughout this CD. They are dominated by that growling shout that edges towards a scream without quite reaching it, like a nutcase restrained by a straightjacket. They are VERY Lamb of God in tone, even going as far as to use Lamb of God's vocal studio tricks, using a thin layer of overdrive on the vocals to give it that breaking tone. Very well recorded and mixed these vocals, they have all the quality of international bands with massive budgets, and are well crafted and used just the right amount to give the rest of the band breathing room. As is that isn't enough, there are moments when the vocals are delivered clean and tuneful, beautifully keyed to work smoothly with the guitars, or used in conjuction with backup vocals as in the majestic song 4,"The Picador". Just really good work by all involved.
I could pull out good things about this CD for another 3 paragraphs, but I won't. I WILL say though that Dyscord are a vastly heavier sounding band to the one they were when they began, and those who think of them in terms of their older material should definately take a second look at the powerhouse band and album-making machine that they have become. I am old and jaded and it takes a lot to impress me these days, but this CD caught my attention straight away and is likely to end up in pretty heavy rotation in my car for a while.
Dyscord have since released their follow up CD "Tirades", an album I have yet to hear. If it is as good as "Dakota" it will most definately be worth picking up a copy, and if it is even better.... well let's cross that bridge when we get to it.
Review by Jez.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment