Title: Malignant Shields
Artist: Disharmony
Genre: Dark Electro
Release Date: March 2007
Label: Aliens Productions
Album Review
A good year before the Slovakian duo signed to the Chicago-based label they’ve released their fifth album, entitled ‘Malignant Shields’ under the moniker of their own label Aliens Productions.
‘Malignant Shields’ starts out with a real breaker ‘Drops of Dust’ which is slowly building up layer by layer, moving through different tones to end up in a complex melange of pummelling beats, striving against the beauty of the melodies and keys, while a highly distorted voice penetrates through the layers from behind. The following ‘Vanity’ pretty much follows the same recipe, but the used beat work is more Old School and unpolished. Expect an atmospheric masterpiece with ‘Spiritual Tribe’, don’t underestimate it, because it’s barely three minutes long, some artists could actually learn something here. Now it’s time for ‘Human Deadline’ having an emotive start, dominated by melancholic keys that invite to dream, later on the destruction sneaks into it with the sopping-wet, distorted beats. The classical arrangements are truly brilliant. The exact counterpart comes with ‘Gone in Silence’ which is heavily focussed on rhythmic, complexity and almost entirely displaces the spherical entity into the background. ‘Virus’ is the next instrumental intermezzo after ‘Human Deadline’ and keeps a very stately pace and it’s another prove of the those guy’s ability to create small worlds of so und with hovering layers and a dull beat accentuation, slowly fading out of the background.
On ‘Confused’ the keys get their inset again, this time very dull, like hidden behind a wall or something. Slick beats crack through another wall and the playful use of synth guitars gives it a somehow brittle appearance. It’s not like I wouldn’t like long tracks, but ‘Oblivions’ doesn’t kick me at all, maybe it would have been better to cut it a little bit shorter. A trademark of the DISHARMONY sound is the ability to create wonderful classical arrangements; other projects hardly can catch up with. These arrangements are an important part of ‘Parasite’ completely upstaging the beats. The instrumental ‘Storm’ makes itself conspicuous through the varied drum programming, but a true highlight comes after the monumental gloomy ‘Twilight Zone’. If you usually thought that a Dark Electro project wouldn’t be able to create a genuine ballad, then the next track ‘Ridiculous’ will get you right on that, holding another surprise with the introduction of organic percussion elements which I’ve never expected to find yet it shows that DISHARMONY are always up for surprises and not willing to follow the trend, leafing to predictable sounds and song structures. The album find sits end with ‘Out of Time’ no beats, only the pure beauty of melody that takes you into other spheres, far away from this world.
It’s no secret that the dark electro genre needs some fresh air, as it is stuck inside its self established boundaries, only a few artists, were able to break and now comes DISHARMONY and proves to be another example.
Tracklist
01. Drops of Dust – 5:40
02. Vanity – 4:18
03. Spiritual Tribe – 2:44
04. Human Deadline – 4:02
05. Gone in Silence – 4:10
06. Virus – 2:55
07. Confused – 3:19
08. Oblivions – 7:58
09. Parasite – 4:35
10. Storm – 3:30
11. Twilight Zone – 4:40
12. Ridiculous – 6:44
13. Out of Time – 3:56
Website
http://www.disharmony.aliens.sk/ / http://www.myspace.com/disharmonydarkelectro
Members
Lord Sauron
Ryby
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
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