Disarmonia Mundi - The Isolation Game

Disarmonia Mundi is a sort of "melodic death metal" supergroup where if you combined the sounds of Darkane, Soilwork, and Dew Scented, this would be the love child. The work on The Isolation Game is very similar to that on the previous album, Mind Tricks. The sound is still very thrashy with a speed metal focus that rarely ever lets up throughout the music, yet there's something very melodic that keeps the listener attentive. However, on this album, Disarmonia Mundi tried to incorporate a more industrial sound that they had on their album Fragments of D Generation.

Again, I'll say that most of the album is a speed metal bullet that is going to make a lot of noise, but usually on every song, especially in the beginning, there's a quiet moment of samples or industrial electronic beats before the song jumps into its full force. On Fragments of D Generation the music had a lot more of this style, but it was layered throughout the songs instead of usually just in the beginning or end. However, Disarmonia Mundi find ways on The Isolation Game  to appease their listeners. On Fragments... it was the electronic influence, on Mind Tricks it was a change to a more straightforward melodic death metal style that just completely pumped adrenaline, and now we have another new aspect of a similar front: vocals. Mind Tricks fans will be disappointed to know that Speed of Soilwork fame has taken somewhat of a back seat on vocal duties on The Isolation Game. He still shares his amazing voice, both the harsh and clean sides, every once in a while, but the other two vocalists are the primary focus over the music.

The music production is still clear enough to hear the vocals among all the ruckuss, only this time they are more evened out between the screaming and singing. One vocalist shrieks his voice while the other — a recent addition to the band — takes the chorus in a style that is for more mainstream rock and metal; one could probably compare it to a less annoying Chester Bennington. Between the three of them they create a really awesome vocal combination that explores all the aspects of what can be heard on melodic metal: gruff roars like that on Dark Tranquillity or Soilwork, cleaner singing that might be heard from a band like Iced Earth or Helloween, and some of the more high pitched screaming from Exodus or Dew Scented.

With The Isolation Game, Disarmonia Mundi have not really made any big changes from Mind Tricks. but it may be just enough for fans to notice. Lyrically, the band can't really be understood except when the singing occurs, but if one was to look it up online they still follow the same psychological aspects of violence, isolation, and social apathy. So it can be considered intelligent melodic death metal. But, of course, the intelligence is seen more in the sound, not the lyrics, so if one is into fast, heavy, melodic music that strongly resembles bands like Soilwork or Darkane (both instrumentally and vocally), this is definitely for them.

Originally written for Blogcritics, Dec. 2009

  1. Cypher Drone
  2. Structural Wound
  3. Perdition Haze
  4. Building an Empire of Dust
  5. Stepchild of Laceration
  6. The Isolation Game
  7. Blacklight Rush
  8. Glimmer
  9. Ties That Bind
  10. Losing Ground
  11. Same Old Nails for a New Messiah
  12. Digging the Grave of Silence
  13. Beneath a Colder Sun

Coroner Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 19, 2010

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