I originally heard Austria’s Disharmonic Orchestra on a 1989 spilt with Pungent Stench and then the 1990 album Expositionsprophylaxe, which showed the band as a rather original sounding grindcore band. However, I never heard any of the subsequent releases such as Pleasuredome and Not to be Undimensional Conscious– admittedly on a voluntary basis after hearing rumblings of the bands’ avant-garde developments away from grindcore and metal. So basically this 24 bit re-mastered version of the bands last album, is the first time I’ve heard the band since 1990, and I can see why they have sort faded from view.

I’m not sure of its reception back in 2002, but listening now, Ahead is one of those albums that I’m sure divided fans between those that saw a genre defying, super experimental avant-garde metal act or a band that simply had no metal relevance anymore. And after hearing Ahead, I tend to agree with the latter.

To be honest, Ahead is rather a painful listen. Avant–garde? Absolutely, but in my opinion it’s a form of weird, ADD fueled, intentionally over the top experimentation that a band delivers to get out of a record deal. Now, back in 2002, this may have been mind-blowing in its genre defying antics, but listening to it retrospectively- it sounds forced. Quirky FX, programming and samples litter mid paced riffage and semi gruff vocals with little or no structure. The riffs are often simple, repetitive and rarely, truly death metal or grindcore, and they take a back seat to all the other various beeps, whirrs, and extraneous stuff going on. Look no further than opener “PlusOne” , “Supervision”, “Nine9nine”, “Grit Your Teeth” and “Dual Peepholes” which are frankly- cringe inducing. And that’s before half the album is even over.

Any brief nods to the bands grinding past such as “Idiosyncrated”, “If This Is It, It Isn’t It, Is It?”, “Pain of Existence” or “I.M.S.M.T.S.U.R” are so few and far between or mired in seemingly random dance beats, programming and weirdness that its hardly worth calling Ahead a metal album let alone one worth re-issuing a mere 7 years later.

The group’s second LP from 1992 entitled “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” is perhaps one of the finest releases in the history of avant-garde metal… Everything on this album, from the peculiar cover and booklet design to the music itself, ventured as far from traditional death metal approach as possible. The LP was produced by Tomas Skogsberg, who previously worked with such bands as Entombed, Grave and Therion. The highlight of this release is definitely the rhythmic section – Messner’s drumming is extremely complex and varied, yet fits the music perfectly, while Zamernik plays his bass guitar with remarkable intensity and charisma, not to mention incredible skill. The guitars deliver a mix of death/grind riffs with a melancholic avant-garde touch, reaching way beyond extreme music. In fact, the only “traditional” death metal track on the LP is “The Return of the Living Beat”, which is a re-recorded version of “Putrid Stench” from the split with Pungent Stench, enriched with a funky breakdown and a rap section in the middle. Disharmonic Orchestra was never afraid to experiment and “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” proves it in 100%. Such additions as samples of a ringing telephone or other hard to distinguish noises add up to form a truly disturbing combination. Perhaps one of the most breathtaking tracks on the album is “Timeframe” – mostly instrumental, it introduces an acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment in the middle section, only to evolve into a metal passage, ending with a drifting melody. All this was backed by surreal lyrics, concentrating on such themes as emotions, love, dreams and philosophy… No wonder the reviewers often referred to this music as ‘extreme art rock’.

Today Metal Mind Productions presents re-release of “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious“. New digipak edition is limited to 2000 copies and includes 3 bonus tracks! The release date is scheduled for 21st July 2008 in Europe and 2nd September 2008 in USA (via MVD).

Disharmonic Orchestra
“Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” (remastered + bonus tracks)

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1186 DG
Barcode: 5907785032811
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numerated copies)
Genre: death metal
Release date: 21.07.2008 Europe / 02.09.2008 USA

Tracklist:

1. Perishing Passion
2. A Mental Sequence
3. Addicted Seas With Missing Pleasure
4. The Return Of The Living Beat
5. Groove
6. Idiosyncrasy
7. Like Madness From Above
8. Time Frame
9. Mind Seduction

Bonus tracks:

10. Inexorable Logic
11. Successive Substitution
12. Unsupported by Evidence

Bio
It all started back in 1987 in the city of Klagenfurt, Austria, where Patrick Klopf (guitars & vocals) and Martin Messner (drums) decided to form a band together. After finding bassist Herwig Zamernik, the trio begun working on their premiere material. In 1988 they released three demo tapes: “Requiem for the Forest”, “The Unequalled Visual Response Mechanism” and “Hypophysis Rehearsal”. The rest of the year they spent practicing their songs on various gigs all across Austria and abroad. During one of the shows in Germany, when the group was supporting Pungent Stench, a representative of Nuclear Blast Records got interested in the promising young formation and offered Disharmonic Orchestra a record deal. The first release under the Nuclear Blast flag was a split recorded with label mates Pungent Stench (the split is to this day considered a collector’s must-have). The band’s first independent offering was an EP called “Successive Substitution“, which was merely a teaser before launching the full-length album – “Expositionsprophylaxe” – in 1991. The debut LP showcased a dazzling combination of fierce technical death metal and some surprising inspirations, ranging from jazz and funk to crushing grindcore. While still rooted in the death metal tradition, the band managed to deliver a truly fresh sound and go way beyond the standards of the genre.
“Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” followed in 1992, taking the group’s style on a whole new level. Everything on this album, from the peculiar cover and booklet design to the music itself, ventured as far from traditional death metal approach as possible. The LP was produced by Tomas Skogsberg, who previously worked with such bands as Entombed, Grave and Therion. The highlight of this release is definitely the rhythmic section – Messner’s drumming is extremely complex and varied, yet fits the music perfectly, while Zamernik plays his bass guitar with remarkable intensity and charisma, not to mention incredible skill. The guitars deliver a mix of death/grind riffs with a melancholic avant-garde touch, reaching way beyond extreme music. In fact, the only “traditional” death metal track on the LP is “The Return of the Living Beat”, which is a re-recorded version of “Putrid Stench” from the split with Pungent Stench, enriched with a funky breakdown and a rap section in the middle. Disharmonic Orchestra was never afraid to experiment and “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” proves it in 100%. Such additions as samples of a ringing telephone or other hard to distinguish noises add up to form a truly disturbing combination. Perhaps one of the most breathtaking tracks on the album is “Timeframe” – mostly instrumental, it introduces an acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment in the middle section, only to evolve into a metal passage, ending with a drifting melody. All this was backed by surreal lyrics, concentrating on such themes as emotions, love, dreams and philosophy… No wonder the reviewers often referred to this music as ‘extreme art rock’.
In 1994 Disharmonic Orchestra released their third LP entitled “Pleasuredome“, which expanded the ideas presented on “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” and went further into progressive inspirations, becoming one of the band’s best offerings. Unfortunately, soon after this release hit the stores, the band split up, only to reunite in 2001 and record another LP, “Ahead” in 2002.
“Not To Be Undimensional Conscious” remains one of Disharmonic Orchestra’s finest albums, brilliantly showcasing the band’s journey from death to avant-garde metal. Next to such groups as Cynic and Atheist, Disharmonic Orchestra shows that extreme music can be approached in more ways than one…