Scott's Song by Song #43: Discipline - Breadcrumbs

 Originally posted to Facebook on Sept 1, 2025

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Welcome to issue #43 of Scott’s Song By Song (#scottssongbysong).For more information about this series, click here: https://www.facebook.com/share/Gc2VkwHQWGLdeaDd/?mibextid=oFDknk

Today, I’ll be reviewing the latest release by the US prog band Discipline.  Discipline was founded in 1987 by singer and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Parmenter in Detroit, Michigan.  The other main stalwart in the band is bassist Matthew Kennedy who joined in 1988.  They released a self-produced and self-distributed demo tape in 1988, which would see wide release some 25 years later 2013 in a cleaned-up reissued form called “Chaos out of Order”. The first “official” release wouldn't come until 1993, with the album “Push & Profit” on Strung-Out Records.  Matthew Parmenter is known as a dynamic performer, inspired by Peter Gabriel’s Genesis years, changing costumes for different songs. This current album, called “Breadcrumbs”,  was just released on August 1, 2025 on the “ProgRock.com Essentials” label. This is considered to be the sixth official studio album, including the re-issue of “Chaos out of Order”.   This is the first Discipline album since 2017. The line up is Matther Parmenter, Matthew Kennedy, guitarist Chris Herin who joined in 2014 (he’s also in the band Tiles, which may see a future spotlight), and drummer Henry Parmenter.  Henry is Matthew’s son, who made a cameo on Matthew Parmenter’s 2008 solo album “Horror Express” at the age of 3 on the hidden track “Henry Plays Drums, Making Music”; which would put him at about 20 years old now.  The album has two connections to the legendary Rush: it was mixed by long-time Rush producer Terry Brown, and the cover art is by Hugh Syme, who was a long-time Rush associate who played synth on “2112” and designed many of their album covers.  While I have been aware of Discipline for a few years, I didn’t know much about them, but have enjoyed the songs I have heard of theirs.  

Disclosure: I was provided with a digital download of this album to review by AnneClaire Baddog Promotions, but am free to express my views and receive no additional compensation for doing so.  I am always free to choose which albums I review of those she sends me.

This is a cold listen, other than checking out a bit of the first single from the album “When the Night Calls to Day” on YouTube.

Without further ado, let's listen!

Track 1 - Breadcrumbs

The album opens with the nearly 17 minute epic title track–very prog indeed!  The track fades in with synth and organ sounds by Matthew P., in a bit of a creepy way.  Starting at around the 35 second mark, Henry gives us a great drum groove, complemented by Kennedy’s bass line.  Herein follows shortly thereafter with some tasty guitar licks.  (To make things clearer, since there are 2 Matthews and 2 Parmenters, I’ll use initials going forward: MP, MK and HP). At 1:30, the piano takes the spotlight, and MP begins singing.  He has an engaging, mid-register range.  HP’s drumming continues to impress, he may be MP’s son, but he definitely has the chops!  The backing guitar and keyboard parts at around 4-5 minutes, do sound like they were inspired by 80s era King Crimson (the band is named after KC’s 1981 classic album “Discipline”). The instrumentation is a bit sparse, but effective, in this part of the track, as Chris Herin and MP trade guitar and keyboard solos.  Soft, distant vocals return at around 8 minutes.  Herein’s guitar parts around 9:45 remind me a bit of Steve Howe (of Yes, but you probably already know that).  He continues soloing until just before the 12 minute mark.  For an extended epic, this has been a pretty quiet affair overall.  Nice vocal harmonies as we cross the 13 minute mark. The groove suddenly changes as we approach 14 minutes.  Herein gets the spotlight again as we begin to approach the close of the song.   At around 16:30, the final note is held and then swells before fading completely.  This is a well-executed epic that kept me engaged, but was a bit understated by design.  I suspect that future listenings may reveal more secrets held within!

Track 2 - Keep the Change

Herin starts us off with acoustic guitar strums, accented with harmonics.  MP joins on vocals along with a subtle rhythm section groove.  This is a moderately slow, folky-ballad so far.  The song seems to build as we begin each segment.  The intensity keeps building until around 3:15, when we get an instrumental break with some syncopated rhythms.  As with the opening number, this is a very low-key (not in terms of pitch, but in dynamic levels and layers of instrumentation) song by prog standards, but I am quite enjoying it.  A bridge follows on these rhythm patterns. At 3:50, however, MK gives us a very proggy fuzz-bass line in an odd meter. At 4:45, the earlier syncopated bridge rhythm returns.  Herin follows with a guitar solo at around 5:10.  The vocals return on a chorus afterward and the song reaches its conclusion.  It was a good track, but I was kind of hoping it would explode a bit more after the fuzz bass riff.  It felt like it was building up to something there, but it didn’t quite happen.

Track 3 - When the Night Calls to Day

We begin with a jazzy 7-4 groove.  The vocals join in soon after.  The meter changes to 5-4 and becomes a bit smoother in the chorus.  The 7-4 groove comes back for verse 2. Some more layers of instrumentation join-in by the second chorus.  HP has a drum feature while the rest of the band keeps the 5-4 groove going.  Next, they modulate up a key for an organ solo, but keep the groove.  As we transition out of the break, MP hums melodically and Herin plays a few guitar licks.  We return to the 7-4 groove for a verse, then a guitar solo.   Another verse and chorus follows, but this final chorus has some vocal countermelodies.  This is the album’s shortest track at 5:27, but it might be my favorite so far.  Let’s see what the next two tracks bring.

Track 4 - Aloft

This one also begins on a jazzy riff in the bass and piano in an odd meter. Drums follow. At around 40 seconds, Herein provides a few tasty licks on the guitar. The band keeps the groove happening, then Herin improvs some more.  As we get near the halfway point, this is shaping up to be an instrumental. It reminds me a little of Billy Cobham’s “Stratus”. MP even provides a little violin on this. Herein has been the main soloist up to about 5:50, when MP plays some violin that is intertwined with the guitar. At just before 7 minutes, a mellotron sounding string part enters in the background  The piece ends very abruptly.  Pretty cool fusion groove tune.

Track 5 - Aria

The final track  begins in a very melodic way on the instruments.  This is the second longest track at just under 11 minutes.  The vocals enter at around the 50 second mark.  After a verse, I believe the violin plays some fills. This is at a fairly slow tempo.  Discipline tends to favor more sparse arrangements rather than the dense ones many prog bands prefer.  The piano and rhythm section are the main accompaniment here, and some organ joins in the second verse.  This is a very peaceful song, thus far.  Things begin to build up a bit during the instrumental break at the half way point. There is a nice rhythmic descending riff that repeats a few times as we get near the 6 minute mark.  This one reminds me of VDGG (Van Der Graff Generator) but not as intense.  By around 7:45 they move into a slow shuffle beat.  Herin takes a subdued guitar with jazzy piano filling in the gaps. When there is about one minute left, the song begins to fade out. Another kind of mellow longer track.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

I enjoyed it pretty well, but nothing really knocked my socks off.  The overall feel of the album is pretty mellow.  The playing is highly-skilled and professional, but not flashy.  If you want a chill-out album, with some proggy playing, this is your album.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

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LINKS FOR LISTENING (AND BUYING):

The only song I see on YouTube is “ When the Night Calls to the Day”

https://youtu.be/uACoyr1ihDw?si=eUZKUCxoqXG8D4Bz

The album (and others by them) are on their Bandcamp page to preview and buy.

https://disciplineband.bandcamp.com/