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DYSGNOSTIC “Scar Echoes”
DYSGNOSTIC “Scar Echoes”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Right off the bat I will be up front and admit that the “dissonant” style of death metal is not my favorite. I find it often lacks dynamics and causes my eyes to glaze over. But there are bands who can pull it off. I think DYSGNOSTIC from Denmark might be one.
To be sure, “Scar Echoes” goes all in on those droning chords that ULCERATE and GORGUTS seem to love so much. And by album’s end, I am tired of it. But this band pace their album in such a way that it doesn’t become too painful. They also don’t go totally overboard with song lengths or creating utter cacophony in the same way ULCERATE does. There’s a good dose of doom metal here, as many of the songs have a slower, tank-like pace, which suits the slurring riffs better. For evidence, I point to “Beneath Abyssal Plains” and “Darkest Muse”...this kind of dissonant doom-death seems to suit DYSGNOSTIC best, although cuts like “Silvery Tongues” show a more chaotic side to the band.
There's also some tasteful soloing to be unearthed, with a real beauty popping up on “Eternal Recurrence”. The unique merger between James Murphy style lead guitar and gloomy dissonance is notable. As for vocals, they are utterly by the numbers...the same stretched out growls we’ve heard in a million other bands.
Not really my style and nothing that blows my head off, yet DYSGNOSTIC reach a bit beyond the box on “Scar Echoes” to create something that has me interested in what the band does next.
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