The Great Discord – Afterbirth

Label: The Sign Records
Releasedate: 22-03-2019

The Great Discord is a Swedish progressive death pop act, formed in 2013. Hailing from Linköping, the band has two full-lengths so far, with the latest one, “The Rabbit Hole”, having been released in 2017. Two years have passed since this release and so the band decided to surprise the fans with the new EP, “Afterbirth“, out on 22nd of March.

“Afterbirth” follows the same path of the previous releases, in particular of “The Rabbit Hole”; it almost feels like the bonus side or the extended edition of the previous full-length with two brand new songs “Heart” and “Afterbirth“. As with the last release, TGD once again show how great they are in blending the mainstream/pop side with metal music and interpreting these styles in their own fashion. This is truly who they are, with the biggest highlight being the vocals of the multi-talented and powerful Fia Kempe.

TGD is not a band without any twists and turns though and this shows, especially in the last two songs, “Army of Me” and “Neon Dreaming”, which caught my attention a lot more and happen to be my biggest highlights. “Army of Me”, the Björk cover, is a great example of how TGD can push boundaries and mix genres fearlessly and professionally. That being said, I think an electronic style fits to the band’s sound very well and could be an element that the band can integrate into their sound. The last and the closing song, “Neon Dreaming”, will be familiar to those who listened to the previous full-length as it was one of the tracks in that album. This time, the band decided to deliver us another perspective of this song without any additional elements and recorded this piece in an atmospheric style, which highlights Fia’s amazing talent once again, and making the song a bit darker in a different way.

One aspect I found weak is the production. Compared to the previous releases. the production felt rushed, and the vocals as well as the guitars sounded muffled and not as loud as I expected throughout the EP. However, this can be considered as a rather minor flaw in the EP and might differ depending on with which tool/platform you listen to the EP.

“Afterbirth” may be short but you will be asking for more after listening to the four amazing tracks, each showing a different highlight of the band’s essence. Hence, it is a must-have for every TGD fan and anyone who likes their styles interwoven and dynamic.

P.S: Another surprise comes in the end of “Neon Dreaming”, where we hear someone being burned (possibly IRE) at the stake… This surely leaves lots of questions to be answered. Let’s wait and see what these Swedes have for us.

Line up:

• Fia Kempe – vocals
• Aksel Holmgren – drums
• André Axell – guitars
• Gustav Almberg – guitars
• Rasmus Carlson – bass

Tracklist
01. Heart
02. Afterbirth
03. Army of Me
04. Neon Dreaming

Links:

The Great Discord Facebook
The Great Discord Bandcamp