Review Summary: technical music that confuses itself.
5 of 10 thought this review was well writtenCursed is perfect. It really is. I now have a distinct example I can point to in lauding the excellence of technical metalcore bands such as
The Dillinger Escape Plan. Ion Dissonance bring everything to the table that DEP, almost, refuse to exude and they’re worse off for it. Sure, they share a similar tact in disregarding any sense of time signatures, structure or melody, but they also beef up the need to prove to the world they're technical, losing the grace and shredding mindless notes for the sake of shredding mindless notes. It’s hard to see the appeal in such a process. This isn’t a talent show at your local junior high, therefore Ion Dissonance need to be taking their technicality to the next level and show us something we didn’t already know they could do.
There is some praise to be had here though,
Cursed is a firm step up from their previous two disasters, harking back to that fire the band entered the scene with. Furious tracks fueled with all the testosterone one fraternity house can muster blindly guide each track. Armed with a plethora of breakdowns and, if you couldn't guess by the name, near unbearable degrees of dissonance;
Cursed fills a shallow bag half filled with originality and half predictability. In fact it becomes almost too easy to expect where each tracks pace will dictate the journey’s ending. Thrash intro? A battle of who can play their instrument the fastest with a three minute time limit – “You People Are Messed Up”. Machine Gun characteristics? Gotta be that Warped Tour essential “After Everything That's Happened, What Did You Expect” complete with all the "f
uck you, you bastard ... blah blah blah meanie". Even the song titles are indicative of what the song is about
for example “We Like To Call This One...F
uck Off”.
Aside from the fact that technical metal should
not be predictable it doesn’t help that Ion Dissonance get pretty annoying fifteen minutes into
Cursed. Back to the reason why they still don’t quite get ‘it’ yet; they over use their trademark, the dissonance that is, to the point where it becomes a gimmick. Is the band a one trick pony? One could argue either way; there
was potential a few years back, but they’re just now releasing the follow-up album that should have been their sophomore effort. Though few songs start in identical fashion every song loses itself forty seconds in and the band have no idea how to pull it through in the end. The middle of the record is a perfect example, it’s a dead zone, with indecipherable moments cementing themselves on top each other in between sheer unappealing musicianship. Of course, it could be that I just missed the memo and that’s all this band is really about, music that’s really, really, fast and heavy and loud and full of china cymbals, not heard so profoundly since
Messengers, and really, really fast and totes magotes and all that good stuff. Well, I'll bid myself adieu from music cause this sh
it’s a classic.
