Discord of a Forgotten Sketch Discord of a Forgotten Sketch

A hint to bands looking for names: If they're going to sound incredibly cliche, make sure that at the very least they make sense. I'm not really sure what the discord of a forgotten sketch would sound like, but my guess is that it would be more interesting than this record. This Canadian four-piece attempts to play the sort of grungy spastic art-grind that Page 99 perfected only without the song-writing ability or creative flair. Combine this with an awful lot of really weak attempts at "tech" and you've got a basic understanding of this band. For their part, the members of this band play their instruments competently and even manage to sneak in some slick parts here and there. The problem is that none of the parts feel like they belong together in the context of any sort of song. As a result of this, the disc's nineteen minutes seem to drag on endlessly. I suppose the unpredictability of it all might appeal to some, but it just feels far too undisciplined for my taste. The guitar work sounds like a first attempt at playing the style of music by a person who probably didn't really have the background for it. The amateurish songwriting seems to swell from this, bringing the rest of the band down with it. The song "Matilde's Dream" is a six minute mess of unrelated parts, climaxing in a fit of screaming that seems to include a stuck pig on backing vocals. This is immediately followed by a seven minute bit of quiet guitar playing and whispered vocals that slowly builds into a lot of noise and garbage towards the end. If this band wants to keep at what they're doing and grow as songwriters, they might be capable, but they should definitely ditch whoever produced this record. The vocals sound like they were recorded in the same metal wind tunnel as Lars' snare on St. Anger. There is a terrible metallic echo on them that makes me cringe every time the guy screams. Add to all of this the frequently low mix that precedes plenty of parts that are way too loud, and you have an altogether unpleasant listening experience. Throw in the ugly white and pink packaging and you have a CD I definitely don't need to own. Bottom Line: Discord of a Forgotten Sketch seem to be guys who genuinely mean well, but just can't quite cut it. There's no one thing about this record that just didn't work, but rather a combination of quite a few. With the recent abundance of quality bands seemingly oozing from every major city, these guys are at the bottom of a long list of sub-standard acts vying for their piece of the pie. This might interest you if you don't mind a hard listen, but the quality parts are few and far between.