DISCARDED SELF is an Extreme Doom/Sludge band from Canada. The project was formed in 2020 and this self titled album is the debut. It is actually from mastermind JARRET BEACH, from DESTROY MY BRAINS and ASHES OF YGGDRASIL. This album reaches near insane levels of abrasiveness. If the pain from having your body tied to a truck and ran across gravel could be transferred to audio, it might sound something like this.

The slow, grinding nature of the music is a pulverizing machine that takes its time grinding you into a pulp.  Just every element of the album is coated in razor sharp spikes. However, isn't heavy and violent without rhyme or reason. Rather than being songs that are only good because they are heavy, this is instead a collection of songs that use their destructive nature to create fully functional mangled beasts of songs.

The first track, "I Smell Pipes" is an intensely personal song about the struggles of a friend's drug addictions. The pain and anger can be heard in Jarret's anguished blackened screams. By the time the song is thirty seconds in, grimy guitar and rotten fuzzed out bass team up for huge riffs.  Later, a slow groove permeates throughout the song and it is complemented by the double bass and cymbals in an explosive moment. At the 4:30 mark, the vocals get more frantic and the lyrics vomit forth in what sounds like a painful display of vocal prowess. The drums also join in on the frenzy and makes for the quite the climax. A wide variety of local drummers from Jarret's neck of the woods have participated on these songs and each of them bring it hard.

"Push The Knife," begins with rising feedback before a frightening scream/growl rages out. The drums provide a solid foundation for the guitar and bass to drop their riffs at just the right moment for maximum impact. There are melodic elements to parts and it has to the crushing weight of emotion. A sudden burst of speed around the 4:30 mark breaks up the dirge for a fuel injected death ride. For a doom/sludge outfit, DISCARDED SELF can really turn on a dime and it is a good fit for them.

"I'm Weak" shows up half thru the track list  at the album's half point and it shakes up the formula for a shorter, quicker punch to the gut. The doom/sludge is mixed with a more fervent punk energy and it is a nice change of pace. The vocal assault is especially brutal. The last minute or so the song gets really into sludge and finishes the song off strongly.

"Dance Upon The Dead" is my favorite song on the album. The whole song sounds like a dying creature crawling around on the ground gasping dying breathes while just trying to stay alive a little longer. The drumming takes center stage and never once does it let up. The chaos is sort of controlled and released by the drums, a Shepard of sludge doomed insanity. I love how the song just keeps getting more intense, more...weighty and potent with each passing second.  About half way thru, the music becomes so thick with dense fury that it felt like my head was filling up with my own existential horror.

Any fan of abrasive doom and sludge will find very little to disagree with this self debut album.  It could be argued that a few songs go on longer than needed but most doom fans don't care about that. Besides, you'll be hard pressed to find anything this damn heavy all year.