This album received rave reviews from practically every corner of the underground, and rightfully so. Discordance Axis breathe fresh new life into the bloated body of contemporary grindcore. The band's high-flying velocity and level of technicality must be heard to be believed. Discordance Axis is to grind what Cryptopsy is to death metal and Dillinger Escape Plan is to metalcore. The music is driven by blindingly fast and obsessively precise drumming. The vokills consist of grating shrieks and occasional growls. The scathing guitars overflow with spasmodic riffs, abrasive noises, dense and twisted rhythms. If only the band was willing to toy around more freely with jazz structures and time signatures, you would probably be able to describe their music as prog-grind. It is not surprising then that a band such as this comes to us not from the predominating gore section of the grind community but from a label better known for releasing records by intricate post-hardcore bands. The album's layout, concept and lyrics also have nothing in common with horror, gore, or porno themes associated with majority of today's grindcore. On the contrary, the concept here is of very personal and philosophical nature, and by reading the amazing lyrics or looking at the album's cover art you would never be able to tell that you are dealing with a grindcore record. Even the packaging is unconventional. I own a vinyl copy, which is no different from any other vinyl record, save for a neat booklet inside, but the CD version is packaged in a DVD case, which is certain to irritate a few people who won't be able to fit it into their CD racks. But I hope it won't stop you from checking out this great band, who, apparently, have split up by now. If there is one grindcore album you are going to get this year, let it be this one.

© 2002 boris