| Discordance Axis | |
| Origin: | East Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genre: | Grindcore |
| Years Active: | 1992–2001 |
| Label: | Hydra Head, Slap a Ham Records |
| Associated Acts: | Municipal Waste, Phantomsmasher, Human Remains, Black Army Jacket, Burnt by the Sun, Gridlink, Deny the Cross, No One Knows What the Dead Think |
| Current Members: | Jon Chang Rob Marton Dave Witte |
| Past Members: | Steve Procopio Rob Proctor |
Discordance Axis was an American grindcore band formed in 1992 in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Their songs employed themes of inner struggles, science fiction, comic books, anime, and literature.
Discordance Axis was originally formed in 1991 by Jon Chang under the name of Sedition, after recruiting guitarist Rob Marton and drummer Dave Witte. The band didn't have a bassist, however, and would change their name to Discordance Axis in 1992. The band commonly avoided photographs and live performances.
The band split up multiple times, with Rob Marton leaving due to health issues.[1] After the band eventually disbanded in 2001, members Jon Chang, Rob Marton, and Dave Witte continued to collaborate in other projects. Discordance Axis would be the forerunner to the band No One Knows What the Dead Think founded in 2016 by Jon Chang and Rob Marton.[2] Jon Chang later joined the band Gridlink as a vocalist in 2004, and Dave Witte would become known for his role as a drummer in other bands such as Human Remains, Black Army Jacket, Burnt by the Sun and Municipal Waste.
Frontman Jon Chang stated on the history of the band:
"Discordance Axis was a three piece grindcore band that started in East Brunswick, New Jersey around 1992. The band started after me and Rob's previous band disintegrated, and we found Dave at a Human Remains show. We asked him to play a split 7-inch 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 reissue 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-inch 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)."
In the beginning, the band played straightforward grindcore influenced by acts such as Napalm Death. However, later releases showcased a more original style. Robert Marton guitar lines were both technical and dissonant, and added creative overdubs to augment the melodies. Dave Witte added complex rolls, fills, and jarring rhythmic shifts to the usual barrage of blast beats found in grindcore. Jon Chang alternated between a shrill shriek and a "gastrointestinal" roar, and based most of his metaphorical lyrics on novels and anime. The band had no bassist, and the majority of their full-length recordings were released in DVD cases rather than CD cases, accompanied by unusually large booklets with long liner notes for each song, usually longer than the lyrics.