An entangled path of broken, thorny roots blocks you from progressing further into the forest. Somehow, they're all coated with blood, and in a bold font, the word "VISCERE"  looms at eye's length. Look downwards! In a sharper font, the logo of the Italian brutal/technical death metal band Discordance is floating near your feet. What is this red-stained aboreal nightmare? If you haven't pieced it together already, it's the sixth release by these Ferrara-based fiends. "VISCERE" is an EP, but half of its content is directly taken from their first extended play, "Unborn Disease," released in 2009. The promo only contains the new material, so I'll be omitting the bonus tracks to keep the review concise and to focus on Discordance's new sound.

By "new sound," I didn't think it would be as radical as promised. Many bands find a style and stick with it, unless they've immersed themselves in the avant-garde sphere. Discordance hasn't, but in this EP, outside influences of -core genres are clear, courtesy of Oxe's high-pitched screams that--while not utilized more than his genre-staple gutturals--remind me of the mid-2000's grindcore and deathcore scenes. It's one thing to do that in 2026, but it's a whole 'nother level of crazy when you add a saxophone ("Bellezza"). It's a shame the saxophonist goes uncredited, because their woodwind additions aren't too gimmicky, nor do they overstay their presence. I was diving into this record with small preconceived notions of their rather unassuming genre, but saxophone aside, many stylistic decisions pleasantly surprised me:

Each one of the five tracks' titles (and this could be language envy speaking, haha, get it?) is beautiful. Italian is one hell of a language, because who would expect songs like "Bellezza," "Abisso," and "Stelle" to be so gruesome? The lyrics also stay true to Discordance's mother tongue and are expressed in poetic form. The band claims that "[the album] is born from poetry that fuses its own metrics." It may be hard to hear, but there is a certain flow between Zeno's clunky bass, Gibo's frenetic guitar, and Fra's manic drums. Hell, I definitely heard Oxe trill his "r's" in "Entita." All of the songs are also quite slow in tempo, an unorthodox aspect for the genre. It's been a while since I've listened to some technical death metal with outside influences, both sonically and poetically, so I'm all for "VISCERE."

It's not really a nightmare if you enjoyed it, right? I wouldn't necessarily call Discordance's "VISCERE" a dream, because for that, it'd need to be an LP. I'm usually against EPs. Once I finish one I enjoy, all I want is another twenty-something minutes. It's a solid record, throwing a kink in the Discordance garden hose and switching up the flow, and it could really benefit from being more of itself.