Disma – Towards the Megalith

We all arrive at genres with certain preconceptions. My approach to Death Metal is founded in a deep-seeded apathy. I had a minor fling with the old school death metal revival that reared its ugly head on the back of bands like Teitanblood and Cruciamentum. The cavernous, wailing insanity of the primal condition – how I loved it!

I have always ignored the more straight forward canon of modern death metal. The overly technical, malnourished-by-production bands that multipled thousandfold did the genre no favors. The same riff began to propagate across different albums, and then different tracks on the same album. Death metal bored me. You can count the number of death metal bands I follow with fervor on one hand. It has been long overdue for a band like Disma to arrive and annihilate my (perhaps naïve) take on the genre.

Disma differentiate themselves from the other DM bands I take some interest in by omitting gimmicks or outsider influence (see Portal, Cannabis Corpse of Teitanblood for some reference points). Towards the Megalith is a brilliant example of how the atmosphere in old school death metal can be combined with the rigor and riff count of more modern outfits to supreme effect. The riffs are cavernous bastions of monstrous scope and force. They flow with finesse and pride. Occasionally one guitar reels off and in decidedly un-death metal fashion commands a section of lead constrained to the lower sections of the register (god bless that G-tuning).

Featuring members of Funerbrarum and Incantation, Disma maintain some trademarks belonging to the genres of their paternal outfits. Towards the Megalith is a doomladen affair with more fully rounded riffs than a pure death metal upbringing would permit. Tracks morph with ease between sub-dimensional horrors to violently hypnotic convulsions of tectonic wrath. Disma deliver a healthy slab of well composed, captivating death metal that differs enough over the length of the album to remain interesting. An epic sense of grandeur and higher purpose engulfs Disma’s sound. Rarely has death metal sounded so relevant and lively. Disma is original in a startling capacity.

Just soak up that art. Towards the Megalith is exactly that. Journey across the subterranean wastes. Unrivalled suffering awaits. Ritual to the great old ones. Monuments arise. Flesh torn asunder. Crippled under bone and sinew. Mammoth burdens. Embrace the unknowability of the thing. Listen to Disma.

You'll find me in the vast wilderness of British Columbia, talking metal at LURKER, or working in publishing and front-end web/eBook development.

6 Comments

  • Reply July 12, 2011

    Rob

    Can’t wait to hear this. And that cover is fantastic!

    Anyone interested can now stream the album in full here:
    http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137709531/first-listen-disma-towards-the-megalith

  • Reply July 12, 2011

    UA

    That cover is awesome too…I have to grab this thing.

  • Reply July 14, 2011

    Lars

  • Reply July 15, 2011

    Sarah

    This album is amazing!

  • Reply July 19, 2011

    Cryogenic Husk

    What I love about this record is that it unintentionally has some of the toughest mosh/breakdown parts. I’m serious. I know most beardos won’t admit it, but there are some seriously brutal mosh parts all over this album (maybe just SLIGHTLY slowed down).

    And yes the artwork is some of the best to come out this year (six panel digipak yo!)

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