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PLOUGHSHARE “Second Wound”
PLOUGHSHARE “Second Wound”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Dissonant death metal is not an easy subgenre to love. It’s mentally taxing to pay attention to and often very exhausting. Yet it has emerged as a valid and long-lasting branch of the metal tree and not a flash in the pan as many would have originally thought. Australia’s PLOUGHSHARE is a solid example of what dissonance sounds like in late 2024.
PLOUGHSHARE is neither as totally berserk as PORTAL nor as utterly depressing and atonal as ULCERATE. They occupy a spot right in the middle of those two poles. Most of the dissonant trademarks are here...long songs, tons of jangle and skronk in the guitar work including huge ‘WHAANG!” noises, breakneck drumming, harsh vocals and a general (but not total) lack of melody. There’s no deviation from the standard “disso” pattern here and that makes PLOUGHSHARE sound pretty typical.
If you have the nerve to listen carefully, you can find some interesting riffs and patterns in just about every one of the 5 tracks here. I prefer the shortest cut “Thorns Pressed Into His Head” because it has an immediacy and directness that the 11 minute behemoths like “So Reverend And Dreadful” and “The Mockery of the Demons” lack. Those are the cuts that just test your patience. Like every other disso-death album I’ve heard, you are ultimately exhausted by what you’re listening to.
PLOUGHSHARE is probably a good band to start an exploration of dissonant death metal with because they are not quite as extreme as they could be. But keep in mind, none of this type of music is designed to be easy to digest…
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