French metal bands can often be quite weird. Death By Design (formerly known as No Sobriety) really wanted to sound different with this, their debut album, and managed to do it to some extent. But is forcibly sought deviation always good?

No, it is not. 'Discreation' is full of boring songs. I haven't found many red threads in these compositions, and most of these 10 songs don't stick to my mind at all. However, there are a few okay songs: 'Awake' actually sounds disturbingly with its company, so do eerie instrumental 'J-Side', and 'Death by Design' being the only three that do the trick. There are some good parts in most of the songs, but that's not even close enough. Death metal of the 90's is what biography claims this album to be about. Okay, there is familiar yet boring riffing reminding of old Gorguts and Cannibal Corpse for example (not meaning that those two bands' riffing's boring!). Vocals are low grunting with not much variety, except some more tearing grunts thrown in at times. The bio also mentions doom, but I do not find it on this album, even though there are slower parts, but does that really make it doom I ask?! Thrash metal is also a part of DBD's sound, but just quite small. Some more "math" rhythms are utilized, at times quite succesfully. Atmospheric parts are cool, giving some futuristic edge to this, sounding something like countrymen S.U.P.

However, drummer's timing is bad. Just listen to 'Infrared Eyes' at 2.40" mark; that's one very clear example. To put it simply: Drumming kills most of this. Rhythm guitars sound muddy, DBD clearly tried to find a different tone than most death metal albums have. Generally, the sound is powerless which is really bad for this kind of music. It booms with emptiness too much. My guess is that lyrics are about emptiness of human life, Jeffrey Dahmer and drug abuse. But how about these lyrics: "I run to a sick-stage / Still it up in my ass / And if I was a can visible by thousand eyes / I'm not quite of there / Totally running away / My life turns into grey / My blood is a drug office"?!?! Yep, simply bad and that's not the only one.

Death By Design aren't the only French metal band, that tries hard to be weird. They just don't manage to be weird in any good way, if in any way! Not the first boring "weird" death metal group from the land of frog eating I've heard, so maybe I just don't get it. Someone else might.

Rating: 4- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
08/21/2005 11:55