Review Summary: One of the year’s more promising metal mainstays.
Forgive me for being
that guy, but I'll always find interest in the supergroups from prolific bands regardless of the band’s prestige within their respective genres. Enter the debut from Dissocia, the beloved brain child of multi-instrumentalist Daniel R. Flys of Persefone fame and drummer, Gabriel Valcázar of Wormed. Hell,
To Lift The Veil even features a violin from none other than Paul R. Flys (gotta keep it in the family). Dissocia bridges the realms between extreme music, clean synths and onerous hook lines.
To Lift The Veil is a reward for those who deep dive into their progressive music. Unpredictability meets resonating familiarity, like a storm earmarking the rebirth of the seasons.
That’s probably too profound.
“Existentialist” is rather untamed and non-conforming. A bull unleashed from its pen for quite possibly the wildest, most exuberant eight seconds of a cowboy's life. Except it’s not an eight second ride; it’s five and a half minutes of revealing soundscapes, climes of musical tapestry pulled taut over a frame that doesn’t quite fit. Perfectly imperfect. Perhaps it’s the guitar centric rhythms and melodies, the inspiring Polyphia into a world shared with Mastodon or even Gojira. Rhythms gallop and chords surge into shouted harsh vocals while frenetic melodies fight for dominance. Still, it’s incredibly balanced, thought out and flows without so much of a hiccup to be heard. “He Who Dwells” continues handling the mantle—one ham fisted hand over the other, while adding synth-death over a foundation of core elements. The traditional straight-forward progressions land untraditionally, innovating on a foundation that doesn’t expect innovation to occur. “He Who Dwells”’ mixture of harsh shouts and clean sung vocals interlaced with the dichotomy of dissonance and repeating motifs is oh so welcome; honey drizzled over smoked prosciutto. Within these tracks
To Lift The Veil has an undeniable one-two punch that speaks volumes.
Curtains.
Dissocia are well attuned with making the most of genre-blending ad lib—so long as it conforms to sensible nonconformity. Say what you will about “Samsara” and its insatiable groove—headbanging at the ready or even the atmospheric, temporal build of “Zenosyne” as if a stage show wasn't at all out of the question. Within the jumble of influences is a spear-headed attack on the aural senses; it's only natural that “The Lucifer Effect” and the album’s latter half picks up on the extremities pronounced in the first half. Dissocia lean towards the atmospheric, more traditional escapades into sensible, less “heavy”—but it’s less the escape, the
evasion. Perhaps, just perhaps, Dissocia have moved too far forwards even within the scope of their debut to forget that the transcendental, yay-metal! Vibes that only re-emerge during the closing, “Out of Slumber”. Dissocia are best when they are heavy, pushing on the boundaries of
what heavy music could be without conforming at all to what the niceties are within this scope of aggressive experimentalism. Regardless, it’s refreshing to hear a band exactly like Dissocia blend the sum of its members' parts into something “real” even if it occasionally gets misplaced into something it shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter that this album features a violin, or that a mastermind of Persefone is just flexing on the outer realms of
what could be,
To Lift The Veil. But, on what?
