Disma - Towards the Megalith (2011)

   When Disma was formed, the names that might sounded familiar from the line-up, such as Craig Pillard (Incantation), Shawn Eldridge or Daryl Kahan (Funebrarum) already guartanteed something great. And the debut "Towards the Megalith" didn't disappoint at all, and fast became a modern icon of death metal, that couldn't be ignored even by the most prejudiced fans of the old school wave of the genre.

   On the side of great production and excellent sound quality the album offers the twisted mix of raw brutality, doom-influenced ominous slow downs and endlessly obscure atmosphere. In riffings they preferred to stay at the basics, with limited theme switches. Speed ups and slow downs are quite common, but the leading melodies keeping them up strictly or complying however that the speed change demands it. This leads to some harmony (that might sound weird in this style), and even though the band definitely builds on contrast too, the main impression is very unified. Therefore Disma is partly easier to go into than the mentioned bands, and partly sounds heavier, because simpler themes are more advantageous to put heaviness into focus. The influence of Incantation and Funebrarum could be strongly sensed, but it gets clear soon that Disma have it's own path, and their music wasn't only built up from what the musicians took from their former or other bands. "Towards the Megalight" is a well composed masterpiece, that recalled the most obscure aspect of old school death metal and the same time embedded it's essense into modern times.