Discordance Axis

This is the end of a legacy as Our Last Day is the final chapter of Hydra Head’s incredible series of reissues documenting the entire recorded career of Discordance Axis. Always the underdog for some head-scratching reason, the manic grind of this band achieved much respect but they remained incredibly obscure throughout their career, albums popping up now and then, a small tour here and there, but for the most part, they retained an impressive yet frustratingly elusive enigma. Our Last Day is the third reissue CD collecting more or less all of the band’s work (not including the still available masterpiece The Inalienable Dreamless). However, a warning must be issued: those unfamiliar with the band should not start off with this release, as it consists mainly of other bands covering Discordance songs. Melt-Banana doing "Ulterior” is excellent and as leftfield as expected, and Cide Projekt’s electronic take on Discordance’s sound is both humorous and impressive, while Gate, Mortalized and Noiseear offer up great straight-ahead renditions of Discordance songs. Also included here are the last two songs recorded by Discordance — the complete version of the Merzbow/Discordance collaboration, and one song from singer Jon Chang’s new band, Gridlink, who look set to carry on Discordance Axis’ legacy of mind-bending grindcore. The only downside to this cool CD is the lack of liner notes; while the first two instalments had ludicrously detailed booklets, this one has next to nothing, suitably ending the whole thing in the frustratingly cryptic fashion the band was notorious for.