There’s a child-like innocence, it’s 4 o’clock in the morning and it sounds like the ghosts are out there. It’s sinister and suggestion is of nightmares. So begins this debut album from Belgium’s Dyscordia. An explosion occurs and we’re confronted with frantic power metal of the liveliest kind. Heaviness and growling superimpose themselves. It’s cleverly blended into a brief hey nonny-nonny power metal romp. It may be called “The Empty Room” but it’s full of nice musical surprises. The full-on assault of this sinister drama reminds me of fellow Belgian metallers Oceans of Sadness and Thurisaz, albeit different in style. A good start. I like the tangential approach to life. The obliqueness made me think of a melodic metal version of Green Carnation. “Lead me to the place where I will certainly come to die” is the cry. Yet with the melancholy comes a break-neck, thunderous and theatrical front. The power metal guitar work would delight the most cynical listener. I’m already out of breath.
More drama is signalled. To another fiery backdrop, the singer sings of a “sea of sadness”. There’s great emotion in his voice on “From Sight to Black”. The instrumentals race off into the distance, leaving us behind, but the lyrics and the delivery suggest a blacker scene …. “Dreaming, waving, Vivid colours fading, Reaching, crawling”. The structure and switching are first class on this utterly captivating track. The solos are magnificent. “From Sight to Black” is a feast of both frenzy and sadness. The undercurrent of insanity continues. Normal people don’t growl, cry and play rapid metal at the same time, do they? There are definite comparisons with Oceans of Sadness here. You don’t know what’s coming next but it’s never understated. The vocals are a bit screechy and high in the range for me, but the drummer has plenty to offer. “Is there any reason for us to be working in circles all the time?” is the plea this time. I think we can all associate with that one. “Ache of Hearts” is more ballad-like, but with growls and deep instrumentals. This one is more classic in its rock/metal form. There is progression in it as a song but I preferred the brain-twisting, unconventional “The Empty Room” which went before. “The Loser’s Game” returns to the scene of growled melodic metal, but it is spoilt by a bland chorus. The album was starting to lose impact.
It’s interesting that prior to this album, Dyscordia released an ep and appear to have written the material for “Twin Symbiosis” in two stages. The schizophrenia which is the hallmark of the earlier tracks appears to have affected the whole musical production. After five great tracks, which are full of energy and imagination, the album settles into a pattern of broadly standard and largely unexciting power metal. “The Loser’s Game” has a nice power metal rhythm to it and I liked the spoken samples but I was finding that I could take some parts of it but not others. Similarly “In Solitude” has a Masterplan-type ring to it but for me could be left on the shelf. It gallops along but not in an original or especially inspiring way. Again, “Locked Within” is technically ok and it flows quite well but there’s no buzz any more. As the album progressed, I recognised decent power metal with a few growls to add flavour but I began to react to it with indifference. “Black Clown” has good guitar work, a nice rhythm and flowing drums. There’s nothing wrong with it but it goes on a bit. The classic-metal styled title track which follows holds up better with its edginess and even a sinister and intense element. “My Devotion” ends the album and sums up my reservation about the second half. It’s supposed to be epic but doesn’t sound committed enough and that being the case, it doesn’t get my undivided attention. Like the other tracks, there’s nothing actually wrong with it and the musicianship is fine but all the ideas have now been squashed into a corporate-sounding power metal melting pot. The children return to finish but the innocence and insanity have been tarnished by blandness. Dyscordia were winning up to half-time but lost the advantage in the second half, I’m afraid.
After a very promising start, this album descended into the unmemorable. Dyscordia are better when they’re frenziedly touching on the insane and the sinister side of things. When they’re not and they’re going for straightforward heavy power metal, it’s ordinary. Take your pick.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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