Band:	Dischord
Album:	Casualties Of War
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	July 2011

01. Casualties Of War
02. Silent Genocide
03. Spiritual Suicide
04. Shadow Demons
05. Mortal Deity
06. RCMP
07. Les Ténèbres
08. Solitary Confinement

I can honestly say death metal has never sounded so safe. There's the funny, deliberately predictable death metal that has that classic charm, then there's music like this. To describe it in a straight-forward, appropriate manner, the description would probably sound similar to that of a few dozen other bands you've read about in the past few days. Well, chances are, these guys probably don't sound all that different from those 2 dozen bands you checked out yesterday.

Granted, there are plenty of cool riffs throughout, just nothing that really leaves any lasting impression. Nothing all that eerie or menacing sounding, but fairly catchy, typical thrashed-out death riffs. That's really the defining aspect of this album - how lukewarm everything is. It's never too slow and menacing, but never frantic, top-speed insanity either. Casualties Of War kind of festers at mid-level intensity for it's entirety, then goes out with a whimper. Dischord's vocals really epitomize the bore-level they are pounding into our skulls...or at least attempting to...Actually, scratch that, the phrase "pounding into our skulls" really has no application to this band. Just more basic growls that never really go nuts like they should.

It's almost as if someone came up with some death metal in it's most basic form to use as an example to show to someone unfamiliar with death metal what it sounds like. Unfortunately, basic form just doesn't cut it at this day in age. Luckily, it's nothing that will offend your metal sensibilities in any way, it's just another album that's mildly entertaining for a brief period of time, then easily forgotten.