DOOMSCAPES

Doomscapes is the debut full-length studio album by Norwegian death metal act Diskord. The album was released in April 2007 by Edgerunner Music. The band is a three-piece and use what I characterize as classic rock/ metal trio instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. No more, no less. Well that´s not entirely true as the band on a rare occasion use an accordion for effect. Something I initially mistook for keyboards/sound effects.

The music on the album is progressive and technical death metal. Unlike most other acts in the more technical part of the death metal spectrum, Diskord have a gritty and catchy old school death metal edge to their music. While the musicianship is outstanding on the album and you´re definitely in for your fair share of technical fast riffing and odd time signatures, the band focus less on scale shredding and impossible to play parts than many of their contemporaries. The technical playing is more a means to an end than show-off on Doomscapes. There´s a dark and obscure atmosphere surrounding the album and the brutal and absolutely caustic vocal delivery only enhances that atmosphere. It´s sort of like listening to the old school Norwegian death metal on Soulside Journey (1990) by Darkthrone or Hallucinating Anxiety (1990) by Cadaver combined with the extremely technical playing of Unquestionable Presence (1991)-era Atheist and the twisted dissonant chord progressions of late eighties Voivod. So Doomscapes is like a melting pot of different death metal/ metal styles with a sensibility towards the early nineties.

The album took me a while to embrace, and it´s safe to say Doomscapes isn´t an easily accessible album, but as mentioned above the band have a flair for creating memorable hooks and more simple out and out death metal parts to make the ride a bit less demanding. Those parts work like little breathers on an otherwise technical blizzard of an album. The production is raw and organic and suits the simplicity of instrumentation very well. Doomscapes is all in all a very unique album, full of filthy authentic aggression, innovative ideas and three musicians who know how to handle their instruments better than most. This is the kind of achivement that calls for a 4.5 star (90%) rating.