A review of Discordant Meditation "Anticosmic Womb"

 

Discordant Meditation

"Anticosmic Womb"

Dawnbreed Rec. 2023

 

I truly don't understand where people get their associations from. Discordant Meditation are pigeonholed on Metal Archives as experimental death metal. No fucking way. The genre in question has undergone so many transformations over the years that to call it "experimental" today is highly risky and can only show one’s ignorance. The EP, which is the subject of today's analysis, is four compositions, which may indeed be far from the earliest face of death metal, but also just as much from being called experimental. Let's perhaps start with the fact that the actual core of the Americans' music is metal of death. There is no shortage of references to the classics of the 1990s on these recordings, mostly from the authors' home country. It's clearly audible that riff puzzles don't pose the slightest problem for the guys, as they are capable of both hard hitting and atmospheric slowing down, without losing a bit of power. And that at the same time they present a really high level of mastery of instruments and often surprise with technical twists and turns, this only enriches their work. In addition to the twisted guitar harmonies, the bass lines deserve a word of praise. Most often hidden somewhere in the background, but often coming to the front with a clear message. Discordant Meditation's music is certainly not monotonous. There is a lot going on throughout each track. Every now and then the tempo changes, chords intertwine... Aggressive moments are balanced by acoustic interludes, with rough growl being replaced by moody monologues. In some parts, the Denver duo's ideas remind me of their countrymen from Blood Incantation, but I don't mean direct musical associations, but rather the way they combine theoretically distant structures or ideas. The strong point of these recordings is that with each listen they gain in strength, and after a few rounds it's hard not to become their slave. Considering that the band has only been around for a year, you can expect, or look forward to, an even more distinct and original dimension to their music with future materials. Indeed, the beginning of Discordant Meditation's story is more than promising.

- jesusatan