Review: Dyscordia – Delete/Rewrite

Ten years ago the Belgian melodic progressive/power metallers of Dyscordia released their debut EP, titled Reveries. Three years later their debut full-length, titled Twin Symbiosis followed, which was succeeded by Dyscordia’s second full-length album, titled Words in Ruin, in 2016. On January the 7th Dyscordia, consisting of lead vocalist Piet Overstijns, guitarist/grunter Stefan Segers, lead guitarist Guy Commeene, guitarist/backing vocalist Martijn Debonnet, bass player/backing vocalist Wouter Nottebaert and drummer Wouter Debonnet, released their third full-length album. This new album is titled Delete/Rewrite.

Delete/Rewrite for sure sounds quite melodic and power metal-like, but at the same time it also comes across heavier than usual power metal. That’s mostly due to the three heavy guitars, the pounding drums and the grunts. A few great examples of this can be heard in This House, Rage and The Cards Have Turned.  

The lead vocals are very clean and melodic though, but not in an exaggerated way. At some moments in the album opening title track those clean lead vocals have a bit of a raw edge to it, but that isn’t the case during the rest of the album.

Of course the album contains more of the clean lead vocals than the grunts, that’s why those are called lead vocals after all, but that doesn’t mean that the grunts are just a detail. The moments in which those grunts can be heard seem to be very well chosen, and the combination of these two vocal styles brings a nice amount of vocal variation to this album. Two very nice examples of this are The Curse of Mediocracy and Rage, while singing a line like “I’m in a rage, you should keep your distance” with very melodic, clean vocals could fuck with your brain though.

Another track that stands out vocally, be it in a different way, is the closing bonus track, titled Rise and Try. That’s because it’s completely acapella, including the “instruments”, which sure is a nice extra and fun way to close off this album. Its lyrics are also very motivational, perfectly fitting the album’s title, with the last line, “Take a look ahead, things don’t look so bad” being a very nice album closing line, introduced by an “instrumental” highlight of this song.

From the instruments in the other tracks I already mentioned the quite heavy guitars and the pounding drums. Speaking about the guitars, we of course have to mention the roaring guitar solos on this album, which can be found in each track, except the acapella bonustrack Rise and Try. For a few examples check out the solos in This House and The Cards Have Turned. In addition to that the nicely humming bass is a bit more audible in Castle High, The Cards Have Turned and Stranger to the Dark too, compared to the other tracks on this album. While there is no keyboardist in Dyscordia’s line-up I still hear something which sound I can only describe as a keyboard. In most tracks it’s added in a very subtle way, but it can be heard a bit more clearly in Merry Go Round and The Cards Have Turned.

One song I didn’t mention yet and that’s Silent Tears. This very melodic track, beginning with a nice melodic guitar and fitting melodic clean vocals, sounds like a very nice live-track. It has that vibe of being a nice set-closing track, looking back on a great performance.

So, you dig power, progressive and/or melodic metal, but also want it to come across a bit heavier than usual power metal while still being very melodic? Be sure to check out Dyscordia’s Delete/Rewrite!

Dyscordia Official Website
Dyscordia Facebook
Dyscordia Twitter