DYSCORD: Tirades

Released: Today

The band with the longest and funniest "influences" list on MySpace returns with their second and much improved album, Tirades. While it wasn't a band album in itself, I wasn't overly impressed with the previous album Dakota as I felt it stumbled along the lines of generic safety and familiarity a little too much. This new instalment doesn't stray far from the last one's musical style, but two years and a bunch of live work later, Dyscord sounds much more comfortable in their own skin.

Notable almost immediately is that Dyscord is now a remarkably much heavier band, and the clean vocals that let them down in the past have been totally ditched. Tirades also sees the band move away from the saturated and stagnated metalcore arena completely and instead focus their energies on groove-heavy death metal, a growing abundance of guitar solos and much more memorable songs. One of the things I noted about Dakota was the band's level of consistency and this rings true once again, yet while it remains the case they still seem to recycle the occasional riff here and there on Tirades the tracks stand out from each other a lot more. The album's best and longest cut "The Murderhorn" shows just how far Dyscord has come from their frankly formulaic debut EP back in 2006, constantly changing tempos with a flagrant disregard of conventional structure. Closer "The Apparatus" is equally as impressive, moving from an omnious chugging riff with a menacing melody line then exploding into double-kick frenzy and James Herbert's multi-tracked roars. The very experienced Jason Suecof pulls a typically excellent sound, highlighting Dyscord's melodic strengths and groove-laden power.

They may not be the most original or groundbreaking band but these nine tracks confirm Dyscord's real potential as a burgeoning force on the local metal scene. Tirades is everything they've promised in the past and more.

1. Behold
2. You Sir, Are a Gentleman and a Scholar
3. The Flaming Catharsis
4. Beneath the Callous
5. The Murderhorn
6. Saguntum
7. Divergence
8. Hard Times Make Virtuous People
9. The Apparatus

Rating: 78%