Discordance Axis

Discordance Axis was a grindcore band from East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Biography

Frontman Jon Chang on the history of the band:

"Discordance Axis was a three piece grind core band that started in NJ around 1992. The band started after myself and Rob's previous band disintegrated and we found Dave at a Human Remains show. We asked him to play a split 7" with us and it snowballed from there.

The pattern was, we got together and wrote and recorded some material, then would part ways. We never really played live much because...well we couldn't manage to sell more than 500 copies of any of our records and we all had conflicting schedules.

We get asked why we only toured Japan. That's easy. That's where all our records sold. And most of the bands we liked were from over there.

Steve Procopio played live a lot with us and recorded the guitar tracks on the Necropolitan EP. Rob Marton plays guitar on every other recording we produced. Steve and Rob were two really gifted people and I feel fortunate to have played with both them and Dave.

There's a much more detailed band history in the Original Sound Version and Jouhou resissue CD's that Hydrahead released, but in brief, Discordance Axis started in 1992 and broke up in 2001. All of our music has been re-issued on CD except for our tracks on the Necropolitan EP(because the master is lost) and our track from the Snarl Out Vol 2 7" comp record.

Jon Chang now sings for Gridlink. Rob Marton writes lots of music but isn't in a band. Dave Witte plays for Municipal Waste (among others)."

Style

In the beginning the band played straightforward grindcore influenced by the likes of Napalm Death, but on later releases they showcased a very original style. Robert Marton played guitar lines that were both technical and dissonant, and added creative overdubs to augment the melodies. Dave Witte added complex rolls, fills, and jaring rhythmic shifts to the usual barrage of blast beats found in grindcore. Jon Chang alternated between a shrill shriek and a gastrointestional roar, and based most of his metaphorical lyrics on novels and anime. The band had no bassist and released the majority of their full-length recordings in DVD cases rather than CD cases coming with unusually large booklets (normally with liner notes for each song longer than the lyrics).

Lineup

• Jon Chang – vocals (Gridlink, Hayaino Daisuki)
• Rob Marton – guitar
• Dave Witte – drums (Burnt by the Sun, Human Remains, Municipal Waste, Black Army Jacket, Melt-Banana, Exit-13, Deny the Cross, Hope Collapse, East West Blast Test, Birds of Prey, Phantomsmasher)

Former members

• Steve Procopio – guitar (live only) (Human Remains) (Gridlink)
• Rob Proctor – drums (filled in for Witte during tour of Japan in 1995) (Assück, Nasty Savage, Old Lady Drivers)

Discography

Studio albums

• Ulterior (1995), Devour Records/Pulp Records
• Jouhou (1997), Hydra Head Records
• The Inalienable Dreamless (2000), Hydra Head Records

EPs

• split with Cosmic Hurse (1992), Pulp Records
• split with Hellchild (1993), HG Fact
• split with Capitalist Casualties (1994), Pulp Records
• split with Def Master (1994), HG Fact
• split with Melt-Banana (1995), HG Fact
• split with Plutocracy (1995), Slap a Ham Records
• Necropolitan (1997), HG Fact
• split with Corrupted and 324 (2001), HG Fact

Compilations

• Original Sound Version 1992–1995 (1998), Devour Records
• The Inalienable Dreamless Perfect Version Box Set (2000), self-released
• Our Last Day (2005), Hydra Head Records

Videos

• 7.62mm (1997), self-released
• Pikadourei (2002), Hydra Head Records

External links

• Official website
• Discordance Axis at AllMusic
• Discordance Axis at MySpace
• Interview with Dave Witte at Lambgoat.com