ALBUM REVIEW: Lower Form Resistance – Dissimulator
Canadian trio DISSIMULATOR have arrived to immerse you in a world of technologically sentient doom. Taking a full-on approach to their tech-death thrash-infused sound, their debut Lower Form Resistance is a hammer blow of a record. With a hefty dose of sci-fi sound effects swirling into the mix of high intensity riffs and rhythms, the descriptors may come across as a bit of an out of reach cacophony, but, once stuck in, this album is hugely rewarding.
Neural Hack wastes no time in delivering the futuristic tech-death goods as a rapid percussive introduction leads seamlessly into thrash like guitar riffs. It’s a swirling, seemingly chaotic start before the track launches into a groove-laced beat combining thrash elements with the aforementioned tech-death. There’s a lot going on but it’s a cohesive assault on the audio senses. Guttural vocals are perfectly matched with aggression of the instrumentation and as an introduction to the world of DISSIMULATOR it’s perfect.
There is no respite but the album doesn’t feel in any way incomprehensible or bogged down in what the band deliver with the opening track. Warped picks up nicely, continuing the groove like edge of the underlying phrasing, yet the introduction of more blast beats and off-kilter breakdowns means the music never has a chance to get complacent. More sci-fi elements begin to wrap around the music creating both the futuristic narrative and a sense of unease that compliments the death metal angle so well.
Elsewhere, tracks like Automoil & Robotoil and Cybermorphism/Mainframe add further to the portrayal of technological dread and unease – not least the titles themselves are a given for this. Musically, in an album full of stand outs, these two tracks represent some of the exceptional high points. The former gives us a taste of what DISSIMULATOR can produce in a more strait-laced thrash format, ticking all the boxes with choppy guitar riffs matched with raucous drumming and pummelling, yet precise, bass lines. It still fits perfectly within the wider setting of the album but offers the listener a more focussed delivery to latch onto. Cybermorphism/Mainframe takes a journey from the relaxed to the frantic. Again, all while fitting with the grander scope of the album, it journeys from emotive guitar melodies as an intro into unrelenting death metal brutality in a proper whiplash-inducing blitz.
Lower From Resistance is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it will appeal to a wide market. It’s got enough elements blended expertly together to be engaging and accessible to a lot of metal fans. It can also serve as an entry for people taking a tentative step into more tech-death releases. It is also a hugely enjoyable debut album. DISSIMULATOR have set out their wares perfectly and as a trio have generated a sound that is as technical as it is uncompromising. There is nothing simple about the riffs and rhythms they’ve produced but the execution of the music makes it sound so straightforward, which is no easy feat and certainly something that should be applauded. By giving the album a thrashy edge, they’ve made the tech-death elements sound catchy – not something you get every day!
Rating: 8/10
Lower Form Resistance is out now via 20 Buck Spin.
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