Search - Ion Dissonance :: Solace

Production is in the ears of the listener

John H. Pitts III | Los Angeles, CA | 09/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1. Metalheads will not like this album due to the production.



2. The production mix on this album is similar to many marquee grindcore albums (Think: Pig Destroyer, Nasum, Keelhaul). On most technical metal albums, each instrument is perfectly equalized and delineated so that there is very little mid range but overall an extremely dynamic sound.



Solace (like many grindcore albums) compresses its instruments "almost" completely to the mid range. Now, I'm a drummer, so I like to hear every single cymbal (ID utilizes a lot of them), tom, kick bass and snare that is being hit and rolled, but at the same time, I am quite fond of the "flatter" almost analog sound, as it gives the band a more unified feel.



More importantly, it sounds more organic, which works to the favor of bands like Ion Dissonance almost solely because extremely technical music of this sort would sound like it was being performed by a computer if produced like a typical metal record. (Think: Cephalic Carnage's last few LP's.) Because of the denser, almost "distant" sound, it sounds like actual human beings are playing this material, making each song sound even more impressive.



3. This album is dirty, bloody and raw. Most technical bands out there are extremely talented, but they lack the agression, the rawness that Ion Dissonance present. The way this album sounds is no accident. Solace sounds like a *very* high quality recording of one of their best live performances, not an overproduced studio album. Listening to it is like being cut by a rusty, dull knife over and over again and enjoying the visceral rush of it.



4. The guitar and bass work is *much* more dynamic on Solace than Breathing . . . Much more in the way of high fret board climbs, alternating chug/squeels, and some of the most shiver inducing bass chord slides you'll ever hear. Like another reviewer said, track 7, "You're not carving" is *vicious* in it's created groove that you'll be yelling out expletives because words WILL FAIL YOU.



5. This album is perfect in it's length. Everything fits together perfectly, even the 11 minute final track which, ironically enough, displays my favorite drumming on the album. (Well, that and She's Strychnine). It's short and sweet, but you'll revel in being able to go back to individual songs and pick out new things every time you listen to them.



6. Unfortunately, the individual songs on this album are definitely not as memorable as several are on Breathing is Irrelevant. There are no "crowd pleasers" here like The Bud Dwyer Effect or The Dead of One Man . . . Fortunately, this album, while produced like a grindcore record, is also composed like one, in that all of the songs perfectly blend into each other to create an overall effect.



7. THIS IS ONLY THIS BAND'S 2ND ALBUM! Why these guys have not recieved the monumentous attention that they deserve is beyond me. Perhaps it's because they're too musically obtuse for the hardcore kids, yet too musically dense for the metalheads. Or maybe it's just because they are Canadian. At any rate, these guys are one of the top bands in existence.



If you appreciate some of the most uniquely composed, technically aggressive music in existence then purchase (not download) this album. This band needs all of the support that it can get."

Ion Dissonance!!

Mono-Grind | Here | 11/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You need this album if you are a fan of Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, The Red Chord, Dysrhythmia or even Behold..The Arctopus. Ion Dissonance are awesome.



This, i would call, extreme screamo/technical metal. I don't know if other fans would agree with me, but this band really is quite brutal in the true sense of the word. Trying to keep up with them is useless. They're very talented at what they do, and this album is brilliant from start to finish. I actually don't find anything wrong with the production, but each to their own. I think this album's production is very well done, personally.



Most songs clock in at around 3:30-4 minutes long, but in saying that, it's a neckbreaking 3 to 4 minutes to say the least. If anyone thought Dillinger Escape Plan was the be all and end all of Technical "Math-Metal" as some like to call it, then i suggest they try this band out. Not taking anything away from Dillinger Escape Plan of course, but just think of a heavier more off-the-wall version of them, and Ion Dissonance is it basically.



This band deserve to be more widely known. This album is totally 5/5."

"incredible"

kade dodson | lebanon, TN usa | 03/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"the intensity and sheer rage of ion dissonance's "solace" is incomparable to no other band on the planet except for possibly pig destroyer but even pig destroyer cannot acheive the insane timing changes and poly rythemed structures that ion dissonance pull of all to effortlessly."