Dyscordia – The Road to Oblivion

Dyscordia are a Belgian (Kortrijk-based) melodic heavy metal band featuring veteran musicians who have played with Gwyllion, Double Diamond, Artrach, and others. Current band line-up consists of; Piet Overstijns (vocals), Stefan Segers (vocals & guitars), Martijn Debonnet (guitars & backings), Guy Commeene (lead guitars), Wouter Nottebaert (bass & backings) and Chevy Mahieu (drums). The band was founded more than 15 years ago, and released three full-length albums, namely; Twin Symbiosis (2013), Words in Ruin (2016) and Delete/Rewrite (2019). Now their fourth longplayer got released independently in April 2024, entitled The Road to Oblivion.

Experiencing the success with their previous albums, followed by some fantastic reviews and feedback from the fans, (including the tour with among others Doro, Primal Fear, Alestorm etc.) – the band went back in studio to record new songs for this latest record called, The Road to Oblivion. The album features eight tracks, and for those of you unfamiliar with their sound, I can best describe it by calling it ‘a melodic, progressive, power and pretty sophisticated heavy metal. The songwriting in general is very well done; being direct, straight-up-face, yet exciting and unpredictable.

“The Passenger” (watch video below) is the opening track from The Road to Oblivion, but also the second single released by the band. The song illustrates the insignificance of humanity in all its facets. The sound of a cello gets started this song, followed by a very deep, dark and low sound. After app. 30 seconds, these are supplemented by some sharp electric guitars and harsh and powerful vocals of band’s lead singer, Piet Overstijns. Distorted parts are alternated by calm melodic parts, which makes this album opener a melodic, yet heavy song. There’s this nice riff that almost connects the first two songs, building a nice bridge from “The Passenger” to “Hell”. Speaking of “Hell” – it opens strong with steady strummed power chords and whispering & growling dual vocals. Towards the end, the song becomes a bit lighter, with a lead guitar bringing more melody into the sound. Next one is called, “Oblivion”, it’s another song with a melodic start, with almost weeping guitars in the background and occasional drums pounding. Growling vocals, darker atmosphere, and a change in a pace, comes later in the song. Actually, the contant smooth pace changes are my favourite feature of this song. “Interlude”, as its name might indicate, is an instrumental song. Although an instrumental song, there’re a few nice tempo shifts again on this song. Furthermore it features some nice piano touches, mix of clean and rough guitar parts, fast drumming and powerful ending, providing a treat for the ears. If you managed to relax, then the opening tones of “Endgame” will definitely wake you up. It’s again with this dual guitar work; one holding the pace, while the other one provides some heavy riffing. Steady drumbeats, accompanied by this nice bass solo, give the song an extra dimension. “Toxic Rain” is again a bit different; it has this unusual opening with some pleasant eerie sounds, before guitars slowly begin to take over, by playing some long notes. Eventually, those long notes get changed for fast chords and a typical growls, before we again, at the very end of the song, get to hear some clean vocals again. On “The Demons Bite” they go back to their trademark opening; with some acoustic guitars paired with a vicious bass. The drum gets added, and the song picks up pace. The vocals switch between the growling- and the clean ones, while the guitar solo is my favourite part of this song. The album closes with longest, epic and bombastic song on the album, “Infinite Fantasy”. It’s an epic and steady song, that features this main speed metal riff, which is very cool. But before one comes to that; it starts with a clean guitar, as one can also hear some electric guitars taking over the violins in the background. The different vocal parts complement each other nicely here too. Everything evolves up to a bombastic whole, where “Infinite Fantasy” serves as nice, epic and tasty album closer.

The Road to Oblivion isn’t really groundbreaking nor the most memorable album, but it is intelligent and thoughtful record from start to finish. Thus, The Road to Oblivion is very well written, flawlessly produced, listenable, and enjoyable record, especially for fans of Dream Theater, Pagan’s Mind, Rhapsody, Kamelot, Symphony X, Mercenary, Dream Evil and similar acts.

For more info visit https://dyscordia.bandcamp.com/album/the-road-to-oblivion