Dissonance In Design
Album: Sentient
Genre: Progressive/Melodic Death Metal/Technical
Deathcore
Thanks to the
kindness of one of my friends who’d gotten their hands on a review copy from
Tragic Hero, I’ve had Erra’s album “Augment” for a couple weeks now, and it is
every bit as amazing as we’d hoped, as many of you guys now know. Lyrical perfection (as we’d expect), deep,
textured, emotive atmosphere, and unexpectedly heavy moments. That being said, since Erra is one of my
absolute favorite bands of all time, it takes a LOT to get me to stop listening
to it. However, Dissonance In Design
have accomplished that, and then some, with their newest masterpiece known
simply as Sentient. In this review, I’ll do my best not to go
track-by-track (as tempting as that is), because every single track, while
great on its own, is best digested as part of a whole.
Let’s start from the
beginning: apart from a few select
moments, this album sounds pretty much NOTHING like DiD’s first effort
“Neurotransmitting an Epiphany”. Don’t
get me wrong, I loved that album, but Sentient
sees Dissonance stepping up their game in pretty much every conceivable aspect
of their music – the vocals, the lyrics (!!!), the technicality and composition
on all instruments, the immersive atmosphere, the crisp production, and the
list goes on from there. If you manage
to get through this album without at least a dozen lyrics and riffs drilled so
deep into your head that you’ve hit oil, I’m pretty sure you need your ears
checked.
Upon seeing the
brilliantly-rendered and eyecatching album art penned by the singular Ken
Sarafin at Sarafin Concepts, one would think that Sentient is just another spacey death metal/deathcore album, but
there is so much more to “see” lyrically.
The album is based on an alien invasion, true, but upon invading, the
aliens do not simply destroy earth – they find that Man’s souls are tragically impure,
and because of the atrocities which Man has committed, we are not worthy of the
gift of life. In the track “Absolution”,
one of the invaders comes to the realization that “As your souls become one
with me, so do your emotions, and so do your memories…And they weigh heavily
upon my heart – it’s almost more than I can bear, yet I must go on, because
this crusade has only just begun...”. After
the invaders have extracted our souls, they decide to spare the universe of the
pain we create by recycling us back into the universe to be used by beings much
more deserving than we. In addition to
some of the best shrieking highs you’ll hear (it sounds like he eats glass
shard cereal for breakfast), Dissonance In Design’s storytelling through their
lyrics portend shifts in the epic battle for humanity’s soul – and the
accompanying mood shifts in the music – are each nothing short of extraordinary,
somewhat evocative of Greek tragedies of old, with the cathartic feelings the
listener develops for the supposed antagonists of their tale.
As far as the music
goes, you can expect a very wide mixture of influences, drawing heavily from
Vale Of Pnath-esque melodic death metal laden with memorable fretwork, Harvest Wombs-era Fallujah-esque
atmosphere, some moments reminiscent of The Ocean’s more reflective passages,
and others with unpredictable mood and tempo-shifts that keep you on your toes as
might a Between The Buried And Me album.
Dissonance In Design weave a sprawling, variegated tapestry with each
track (here in particular, note my favorite track “…Between Space And Time”, “Entwined
In Aether”, and “Absolution”), using as their thread a dizzying array of
rapid-fire catchy riffs that’ll have you pumping your fist and banging your
head for long after the final roar. The
basslines aren’t just audible, but thoroughly impressive from a technical
standpoint. Drummers, too, will get a
thrill out of some of the flurries of intricate fill work done by Zac Patuto
(see about 1:30 into “Entwined In Aether”), but mostly the percussion section opts
to complement the rest of the music as a whole.
Sentient was produced by Dave Otero, whose previous credits include
Cattle Decapitation, The Breathing Process, Allegaeon, so you know the album
sounds worlds better than DiD’s first album, which was really one of their main
weaknesses. The atmosphere is entirely
immersive, and as their manager told me they were going for, DiD have truly
created an “experience” with this album.
All-in-all, the elements of Sentient combine for a nuanced,
teeth-shatteringly brutal musical endeavor that will surely tantalize even the
most discerning of deathcore/death metal fans.
Don’t miss out on what will probably be one of my top 5-10 albums of
2013!
When is this beast gonna be released?
ReplyDeleteVery early in November :)
ReplyDelete