Ion Dissonance - Cursed
Rating
RIYL
MeshuggahDillinger Escape Plan
The Acacia Strain
Release Date
08/24/2010
Label
Century MediaTracklist
01. Cursed02. You People Are Messed Up
03. The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same
04. This is The Last Time I Repeat Myself
05. No Care Ever
06. After Everything That’s Happened, What Did You Expect
07. We Like to Call This One...Fuck Off
08. Can Someone Please Explain This to Me?
09. Disaster in Sight
10. This is Considered Mere Formality
11. This Feels Like The End…
12. They’ll Never Know
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Meshuggah is a band that broke onto the scene in the mid to late ‘90s, and ever since, bands have been attempting to capture the raw energy and ridiculous time signatures that not even Einstein could begin to understand. Is this a review for a new Meshuggah album? Not necessarily. However, is Ion Dissonance one of the few bands that actually does an honorable job of taking the Meshuggah formula and making it their own? Yes.
Diehard Ion Dissonance fans may have shunned the band when vocalist Gabriel McCaughry left and was replaced by former Shaolin vocalist, Kevin McCaughey. While his vocal style wasn’t drastically different, the actual music seemed to take a turn for a more groove-based and breakdown-heavy approach on Minus The Herd when compared to the band’s tech/math chaos that they threw down on their first two full lengths, Breathing Is Irrelevant and Solace. The arrangements on Minus the Herd certainly seemed a little less complex than their predecessors, but this allowed for a more memorable album overall.
But now we’ve reached Cursed, and the title track seems to pick up right where Minus the Herd left off. It’s your typical instrumental metalcore breakdown-centric opening track. It’s not bad, but it certainly won’t set your expectations for the rest of the album very high if you were disappointed with their last album. Then “You People are Messed Up” kicks in, almost as if the band wants to flip you a huge middle finger and say, “We’re back!” The track features the spastic guitars switching from speaker to speaker and alternating between the bowel inducing lows of the bass. All the elements are there, including the time signatures that will confuse you more than Mulholland Dr.
The rest of the album follows in a similar fashion. There’s a great balance between the more minimalistic groove riffs on the last album and the band’s technical past. Unfortunately, there’s an old familiar ghost that come back to haunt this recording. Yes, you guessed it – the vocals. Kevin tries his best to imitate some of Gabriel’s style, but he still falls short of pulling it off. The vocal style continues to come off as being something that belongs in your standard cookie cutter metalcore band. The great thing about Gabriel was that the vocals weren’t always shouted out in predictable patterns. Much like the instrumental side of Ion Dissonance, the vocal patterns were just as confusing at times, which was quite an accomplishment for a metal vocalist, and quite frankly is one of the many reasons fans have been wishing Gabe would return.
While Kevin’s vocals aren't necessarily bad, they aren’t really anything special either. Kevin’s biggest weakness is really brought to light on this album, however. Most of the lyrics are just flat out lazy, with f-bombs getting dropped left and right and some lines that are extremely cringe-worthy. With such genius as, “It’s time to take out the trash, bitch! I’m taking you out tonight!” on the track “After Everything's That Happened, What Did You Expect?” it’s pretty easy to see that the band has run dry of any remaining lyrics left by Gabe. This band used to have dark and abstract lyrics, but those days are clearly over.
As a whole, this album is a great Ion Dissonance release. It combines the best elements of their older material with the grooves, smart songwriting, and excellent production quality of Minus the Herd. Even if it isn’t their best release, Ion Dissonance remains one of the best bands to come out of this scene. Despite some of its shortcomings, Cursed is an improvement over their last release. It seems as though the band took criticisms from the last album to heart and improved upon them here while also staying true to their vision. While some people are listening to The Acacia Strain, Emmure, and White Chapel, Ion Dissonance is there for the rest of us. Mark my words, this WILL be one of the heaviest records you’ll hear this year.
--Cory Rennison
Comments
Infinitely Inwards
That's Right
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
Fallujah - The Harvest Wombs
The New Law - The Fifty Year Storm
The Mars Volta - Noqtourniqet
Aborted - Global Flatline
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
Edmonton, AB
Not really getting the Meshuggah comparisons, but this album is heavy as fuck and I'm really enjoying it so far
Infinitely Inwards
I understand that its vague dude - but anyone in the world that plays heavy music by incorporating some form of poly-rhythmic stylizations and syncopated riff patterns and grooves into their music owes some form of credit to or (at least) awareness of meshuggah's influence. Meshuggah's influence (at least IMO) spans the ridiculous scope of all extreme or otherwise "metal" forms of music. It helps to be around since 1987 and basically change the way people consider technical music.....I bet that sounded pretentious as all hell.
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
Fallujah - The Harvest Wombs
The New Law - The Fifty Year Storm
The Mars Volta - Noqtourniqet
Aborted - Global Flatline
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
Edmonton, AB
I definitely know what you mean about the poly-rhythms and riffing, Meshuggah's influence is everywhere. I guess I just felt that it was more in the background on this album. Spot on with the DEP RIYL though, this one very much reminds me of the new Dillinger Escape Plan.