TO SHATTER ALL ACCORD

What an extremely pleasant surprise to see that after a gap of fourteen years Discipline had released a new album. Their second album in particular, Unfolded Like Staircase is highly regarded amongst a small but discerning group of prog fans and they are going to be delighted with To Shatter All Accord.

An album of only five tracks but it does include a twenty four minute epic. Each track compelling in its own right from the guitar dominated one two opening of Circuitry and When The Walls Are Down, the simpler and melodic Dead City through to the final two which captures them at their most inventive. When She Dreams She Dreams In Colour really bring to mind the Van Der Graaf Generator comparisons they're no stranger to. The haunting opening dominated by dark piano work and some wonderfully subtle jazz drumming give way to more bombastic playing. A long drawn out coda will keep mellotron fans happy and a melancholic violin solos over a slow and simple rhythm. This is not the norm however as Discipline are masters of working very effectively in more complex time signatures, demonstrated on the album as a whole and on the closing track Rogue. It's the highlight on an already excellent album. A jaw dropping musical ride, moving from powerful bombast to subtler interludes with some great hooks, particularly around half way when a fantastic Hammond and guitar driven riff really locks in to a compelling groove after a slow build. The band play brilliantly, as they do throughout and Mathew Parmenter's theatrical vocal delivery is superb.

A brilliant return for Discipline then. If you haven't heard them and like your symphonic prog on the dark side you can't afford to miss out on this excellent album. Powerful stuff indeed.