PLAYLIST: Patrick from Disconnected Souls' Most Influential Albums

Curated and Written by: Patrick of Disconnected Souls

In a (continuing) attempt to give some cool bands a platform to talk about cool music, we're having a band take over the blog each Wednesday to share a curated playlist, along with some words about each song and why they picked it. Last week's playlist came courtesy of Sofia Frasz from Exiled Hope, but now is time for the change of guard. Patrick from Disconnected Souls is taking over.

An eclectic and cinematic ensemble, Disconnected Souls emerged in 2018 out of a desire to incorporate and blend the three great pillars of music: electronic, classical, and metal. The quintet based out of Chester, England, striving to create a distinctive sound that draws upon the depths of metal, while playing with tones and textures. Each member brings a diverse range of musical interests to the table and the resulting sound encompasses a wide variety of instrumental and vocal styles. Their debut conceptional album, Fragments of Consciousness, was released Jan. 19th of this year. Once you've checked out the writeup below, check out Disconnected Souls over on their official website. Without further ado, I'll let Patrick take over!  

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For this playlist, I (Patrick) have collated a sampling of some of the most influential tracks/albums on my writing process with Disconnected Souls and other projects. These tracks and their associate artists are but a part of the DNA that makes a Disconnected Souls song.

"I See Stars" - Murder Mitten

The New Demons album by I See Stars is the quintessential electronicore album--EDM and metalcore fused in a final form that elevates both genres to their heights. This is an album of dichotomies--the diversity lives not only between the trancy synths, dubsteppy wubs, and heavy chugging guitars, but also in the vocals - soaring, poppy cleans paired with brutal, abrasive high screams and low growls that border on deathcore. Zach Johnson's performance on this album heavily inspired my harsh vocals, his range and ferocity in this era was unmatched.

People often turn their nose up at EDM elements in metalcore-adjacent genres. But at a base level, it's a lot of fun. It hits hard, adds some much needed melody to a genre obsessed with who can have the heaviest breakdowns (which I love dearly, of course).

This album is a favourite amongst the whole band, for good reason. Every track has its place, and most of them are almost five minutes long without outstaying their welcome. The structure of certain tracks is interesting as well - no verse-chorus-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus as standard on this album.

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"Dominatrix" - Void of Vision

The CHRONICLES album is a love letter to the German techno scene written by an Australian hardcore band, and the combination of influences shows. This album is crushingly heavy--musically and emotionally. Jack Bergin's pained punky yells sit atop a bed of bass-heavy sequencers, soaring pads, DnB drumloops, and slamming hardcore. This group effortless weaving of heaviness and melody, much like with New Demons, is a pinnacle of electronic-infused metal genres. There's a lot of creativity in the use of synths to amplify the heavy, such as the use of acid sequencers to amplify the djenty chugs on "Gothika". They also don't shy away from ditching the instruments entirely, with multiple synth-only tracks featured on the album.

"Dominatrix" is the anthemic club banger for a metal-inclined audience - the epic vocal sample in the chorus brings the power, while the band bring the unwavering ferocity. This album is heavy, clubby, sexy, unsettling, and undeniably goth. This sample heavily inspired me when writing our track "Loveless"--a call and response between something raw and something synthetic.

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"Ikishinigairon" - Not Secured, Loose Ends

The combination of rock/metal with Japanese idol groups is not an alien concept to the world, with bombastic acts like Babymetal and PassCode in existence. But there's one act lesser known in the west that really caught my attention. NSLE took over my life at the tail end of 2019 - the distilled essence of late 2000s post-hardcore, performed by four incredibly talented idols, this artist brings the unrestrained angst and melancholy needed to hit on my emotions.
The chosen track includes possibly the most emotional chorus ever written, that captures the powerful emotion of longing for something. Every chorus I've ever written seeks to capture the same feeling.

Similarly to Disconnected Souls, this artist likes to play with genres a lot--hip hop, bubblegum pop, ambient music, and indie rock litter their discography, making for a diverse body of work.

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"a bulleT w/ my namE On" - Bring Me the Horizon

BMTH is, quite frankly, one of the greatest rock/metal artists of this generation. While Sempiternal is a major influence on a lot of the band, their newest album, POST HUMAN: NeX GEn is a phenomenal piece of art.

Oli Sykes and co. have done something truly incredible with this album--they have created a perfect blend of paying tribute to the past and reveling in the now. They wear their influences on the sleeve--an album defined by inspirations from the past, the like of Deftones, Underoath, and Linkin Park, drenched in a hyperpop coat of paint to make something truly fresh - something familiar, yet entirely new. That is exactly what I wish to emulate in my music - the old and the new, iterated upon endlessly for something even newer

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"What Have You Done" - Within Temptation

Within Temptation have been writing solid, anthemic symphonic metal for over 20 years now. Sharon den Adel is a phenomenal vocalist, backed by great musicians to carve out their place in music history. The ability to write a vocal melody that is catchy but not gimmicky is very difficult, but time and time again WT will deliver.

I remember first being introduced to this band by my brother when I was young, and the combination of distorted guitars and soaring strings blew my mind. Den Adel's vocal melodies inspire me whenever I'm writing vocal parts for Holly.

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"Between Death and Dreams" - Brand of Sacrifice
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I enjoy deathcore, but one of my issues with a lot of the genre is its complete rejection of melody. While commendable in its own way, it fails to catch my attention. So when a deathcore artist comes along and embraces melody, it makes me very happy. As such, Brand of Sacrifice make me very happy. The unrelenting deathcore assault is still ever-present in their sound, but the subtle synth layers and occasional clean vocal section elevate them far above their unmelodic peers in my eyes.

So when writing the heavier section of DS music, I like to tap into this melody, to organise the chaos inherent in heavy music.

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"ULTRAnumb" - Blue Stahli

The man behind Blue Stahli is an inspiration for me--he is entirely self-taught, writing entire cohesive albums on his lonesome. Edgy, industrial rock bangers from front to back, Stahli evokes a cyberpunk aesthetic in everything he touches.

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"Darkest Part" - Red

Michael Barnes of Red has ruined me. His vocal melody style infects every clean vocal section I write - his unique timbre haunts the text files housing my lyrics. Whenever I envision a new chorus melody, I hear a small voice in the corner of my psyche--"What would Michael do?"

Barnes pushes his vocal performance to the brink in every song, but the Of Beauty and Rage album is the epitome of this. An emotional, pleading rock album sat upon an orchestral bed, this album forever changed how I approach music.

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"Sit & Mourn"​ - Knocked Loose

For the longest time, I just couldn't get into Knocked Loose's music. The harsh, aggressive hardcore instrumentals, plus Bryan Garris' bark-like yelps really went against what I sought in music. Until their most recent album. While still a brutal assault from front to back, it's doesn't shy away from getting experimental, with drum patterns ranging from black metal to reggaeton, and a heaping dose of creepy guitarwork and existential lyrics.

"Sit & Mourn" is a standout as a brutal crushing closer, both sonically and emotionally. Never has hardcore sounded so longing and devastated.

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"c.y.b.o.1.h." - Desolate

Desolate, a small metalcore unit out of New York, opened my eyes to what you're "allowed" to write metal songs about. Unabashed weebs, Desolate's music revels in the pages of manga and anime such as Oyasumi Punpun and Neon Genesis Evangelion. A healthy dose of relevant samples amongst a driven, melancholy hardcore sound, their songwriting inspired me to start my own yet-to-be-revealed side project (spoilers).

This band also awakened me to my love of lo-fi interludes and instrumental asides - the calm before an ensuing storm, or a slow, meandering end.

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"Heretic" - Bury Tomorrow

Dani Winter-Bates of Bury Tomorrow showed me what the heavier side of harsh vocals could be. It took many, many attempts of hearing "Man on Fire" on repeat on Kerrang! TV until I eventually started to like it - overcoming that brutal vocal wall unlocked the majority of my current music taste.

While Bury Tomorrow have been a mainstay in my music folder since the release of Runes, their most recent album really elevated their sound in my eyes (and ears). The introduction of Tom Prendergast is very welcome, with big shoes to fill, his clean vocals are stellar and powerful, and the introduction of his synthy pads is what BT needed to keep moving onwards and upwards.

The interplay between Winter-Bates harsh and Prendergast's cleans are very inspiring to me--they dance around each other, with "Heretic" as the standout, demonstrating how to keep a repeating chorus fresh purely by changing its delivery each time.

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"These Chains" - Curse of Dawn

This inspiration is significantly more personal. Curse of Dawn is the former band of bandmate Fletch, alongside my brother. I frequently sat in on their band practices, watching the creative process first hand. Despite having no musical ability to my name, I knew in those moments that I wanted to be a part of something like that. So when Fletch returned with the idea of  Disconnected Souls, I jumped at the chance.

While rough around the edges, there's some real creativity and drive in this EP. And with Curse of Dawn reformed under the new banner of In Sφnder, I look forward to every future track my dear friends put out.

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Thanks to Patrick for curating this playlist and providing commentary! Tune in next week for another playlist.