Northern Discipline
Burn-Beaten Soil
5.8
Looks like we’re firing up the time machine again. But we’re not going back very far this time, just back to 1998. Back to the days when simpler, more emotion-driven (not EMOtion) music ruled the airwaves, with muddier distortion and less complex riffage. I won’t throw out that dreaded two-letter prefix because it’s not totally deserved in this case, but this album definitely sounds a little dated to me. What they do have going for them is a fantastic band name.
Musically, Northern Discipline are loud without being all that technical, rather we get a lot of fuzzy chords, low note strumming, and overbearing drums that drown out whatever the guitars may be doing. This renders the guitar as little more than a percussive instrument, leaving the singer to handle all of the melody. His vocals range from a half-shout to a limited crooning. They would be served well to find a voice with a little bit more character. I imagine they produced this album just how they wanted it to sound, and it is a fitting mix, although one that mucks up the guitars.
The songs themselves tend to be pretty catchy, with choruses that can drill their way inside, but this probably depends on what you were listening to back in the late 90s. Something in my brain says, “hey, I remember this stuff!” “Create Disorder” bears some Machine Head resemblance when MH tried to branch out – which means there are some heavy moments that succeed more on aggression than intricate songcraft. But for every two of those, there is a “Nothing Remains” that drags along slowly and fills in long spaces with noise and heavily distorted twangs rather than actual music.
Burn-Beaten Soil has its moments of promise interspersed with moments of irrelevance. But I’m sure you and I both know some old buddies that never moved past Spineshank and Godsmack, and this is a fine album for those wandering souls. Young metalheads raised on Shadows Fall and In Flames, and old heads from the Maiden days probably won’t find much to excite them here.
