Disconnected Bonds - Myopic

Disconnected Bonds is a somewhat sloppily assembled EP from Baltimore based Death Metal / -core outfit Myopic. Focusing on a bizarrely paced prog riffs worked into fairly tired chugging and backed by dry single notes on both bass and guitar, the mediocre guitar work sporadically falls out of step with the rest of the song. In the songs "Impoverished Abstractions" (which, IMO, has the best riffs, albeit some of the more disjointed riffs on the EP) or "Hypocrisy" for example, either song is built upon a framework of somewhat awkward and inconsistent prog riffs that show plenty of promise, but no real follow through.

Vocals are your run of the mill death growls with no impressive depth or control. You don't get the same sheer velocity through the vocals that you might see in a Cannibal Corpse album, or the power you'd hear from Mikael Akerfeldt. I suppose you could say that the vocals compliment the chugging well enough, defining the most organized and well timed portion of the EP

The drums are comprised of a large amount of double bass and a random, patternless sounding collection of drum beats that keep the wrong tempo. Drum beats are typically woven into the guitar riffs without too many hang ups, most of which appear in the song "Rodney Part II" and Impoverished Abstractions". Cymbals are almost abused, and nothing substantial done on the snare or toms, except for the odd "fill".

Disconnected Bonds is a largely mediocre album, combining equals parts dull and worn out guitar work with rough proggressive death metal riffs, and is "rounded out" by a dry, unoriginal job on the drums and vocals that don't do much better. If Myopic were to lose the chugging / "psychedelic background guitar" and bring everything together with more well timed and balanced drums, they could produce a fresh enough progressive death metal offering that it might see moderate success. Continuing at their current pace however, they will remain a little less than average.

5.5/10

http://myopic.bandcamp.com/