Chords of the Grave, Christian death metal's most recent compilation was not only punishing to our ears, but punishing to our hearts. All because every band decided to be a bunch of "poopy butts" and break up. Members of OBLITERATION have now became DEATHLIST, an inferior answer to the brutality they once displayed. Members of DISENCUMBRANCE are now DETRIMENTAL, who still rip, but are no longer Christian, lyrically. EVISCERATION is gone forever...I'm not too disappointed. "Well what about Oblation, daddy Much", you say (or maybe "GET ON WITH THE DISCERN REVIEW!!?) I only know one thing about them now and that happens to be Billy Frasier, 'nuff said.
After Oblation's demise the drummer, Frasier, had trouble finding the right members who were all in one accord. Determined not to give up, he decided to do it himself. Drums, bass, vocals, and rhythm guitar are all played by Mr. Frasier. Lead guitar is handled by producer, Andrew Albert.
Yes children, It's S.O.P. American death metal, blast beats, guttural vox, B-flat power chords, and aggression. Sorry to all you melodic artsy fartsies. The first 30 seconds of "Revival" expose the definite SUFFOCATION (Effigy of the Forgotten)/CRIMSON THORN influence. Low, slurred vox and ample blast. The only break on the track is palm-muted chugs and harmonic squeals. "No Condemnation" greets us with the traditional, "mystical noise", intro, then downshifts into an exchange of power chord chunk and dragging vocal slurs. The drum rolls that follow have to be the most gripping tracks on the LP and the black rasp enter. "Love" is your common, 1000 m.p.h. death, but has a 5 second STEVIE RAY VAUGHN'ish guitar break (and ending) that I didn't much appreciate. "Rebuke The Church" bashes the teachings of Copeland, Hinn, Hagin, and Roberts and I can only say... RIGHT ON! The track starts with an excerpt of Copeland rambling on about how "we are a class of gods" , but I hope someone doesn't get a bootleg of this or they may think Discern is agreeing with this (it's not like you can understand the lyrics.) "Jasper" is a "happy" little acoustical song in its entirety; I found it to be a little too "happy". "Parallel the Righteousness" is decent death, but drifts into a swanky, blues guitar segment that sounds like "The Jack" from AC/DC (that's NOT good, pal.) The Blues suck, sorry. "Fallen Miserably" rescues your attention, blast, speed, death/black vox, joy. "Outro" gave me an early BROKEN HOPE feel (I'm not EVEN complaining), but was cut a little short. It even has a twenty second KISS cover at the end, if you like KISS?
I did have a few issues with this LP. First off, it was too short (around 30 minutes.) Again, I hate the blues, but it was only in a couple of brief parts so no Major deal. The vocals spanked me, but were not given the respect they earned because of low mixing. Enough of my gruff! I did enjoy this album. The Christian scene lacks enough American style death bands, so now we have another. The drumming was fast, tight (overused term, I know) and blasting (did I mention that? Heh) and quality. You wouldn't know this was a one man project. Discern does not lack in brutality, even on the slower SIX FEET UNDER/basic parts. I'm ready for the sequel.
7/10
Other Staff Member Ratings
Grindboy: 7/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #76Reviewed by Doug Van PeltWow! Brutal intensity with fun musical additives. Listen closely and you'll hear all sorts of fun riffs, like Kiss' "She," and other quirky but lethally heavy and played with talent, showing insight into the creative genius of Billy Fraser (former drummer for Oblation), who did this as a solo project. Hungry for the heavy? Dig into this groove-death-core.The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Chris KingMan o' man this is a cool album. There have been quite a few very good extreme metal bands coming out in the "Christian market" lately, and this album is right there near the top. Discern is Bill Fraser, ex-drummer from Oblation...and that's it. He does get a little help here and there from others, but Discern is primarily a one-man grind machine, and grind it does! This is fast and brutal death…Dead Zine 1998Reviewed by sesspoolIn light of all the death metal that has sucked throughout the years since the immortal slump of metal giants Mortification, this cd may in fact, come as a very nice breath of death air. This cd may not be mixed well, and may not even be very good. But it has the old-school death metal feel that bands like oblation, Cryptopsy and even the ol' Mortification had down so tight way back when. There…Dead Zine 1998Reviewed by FletchDid someone say grindcore? To me, this cd goes well right along with Chords of the Grave. In fact, this band would have fit well on that cd except it's not really a band (it's a solo project) and Discern is still active. The drumming is explosive and the guitars are powerful. What more could you ask for? A great grindcore vocalist you say? Well, Discern has that too. As far as grind goes, it's…Similar sounding releases
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