Review of Discreate - Self Titled

The first offering from sons of Massachusetts Discreate is a four track self titled demo that shows ample potential. Demos are funny things though, as there is often an inverse relationship between the quality of the recording and packaging, and the material itself. There is no shortage of bands distributing slickly recorded and packaged music, but many times after listening, one is left to wonder why the band spent so much time on first class packaging for third class material. Discreate’s demo sounds like they all should---like shit. To be fair, for a homemade job this is entirely acceptable. It is simply clear the band spent its energy on what mattered, and because of that, they sound like many young bands are supposed to---long on enthusiasm and drive, and short on cash. No complaints from me, and since they are giving away the mp3s of this material on their website, potential fans don’t have to reluctantly shell out cash for a low budget four song release. Nice move.

Discreate are hard to pigeon hole into a genre, but in large part are a thrash outfit that clearly spent some years headbanging to classic American thrash bands of the late ‘80s. However, they avoid sounding like a throwback band by adding some varying touches, especially vocally. A little traditional, a little power, a lot thrash would just about cover it. In fact, the opening track, “Drift in Evil” is a pretty straightforward thrash effort that features quality riffs and drumming and a strong and varied vocal performance that ranges from growls to clean vocals to Anselmo-like piercing shrieks of abdominal crunching, not an ounce of air left in the lungs variety. The abundance of clean vocals on the album give the band a more contemporary feel, but sometimes aren’t always the best compliment for the music. I applaud the effort, and I’m sure the band feels like this approach is a big part of their signature, but I think they need a little more time in the lab to get the mix exactly right. This is especially true during the use of layered clean melodic vocal tracks that sometimes sound more suited for hard rock than metal. The vocal elements are all there, they just need slight adjustment to maximize their strengths. The riffing strikes an effective balance of melody and technical skill, and the drumming is excellent. Although the opening track is strongest, the other tracks are consistently good as well.

Good songwriting, solid musicianship, and gritty, low budget sound. What more can you ask of a metal demo? Oh yeah, it’s free—that always appeals. Grab the tracks from their site and watch for a full length album. Discreate could make some noise.

Release Details

Discreate

Self Titled

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