It seems like a million years ago when I happened to catch New York's Dysrhythmia at a small bar during the Friday night showcase of NEARfest weekend in Trenton, New Jersey, 2002 to be exact, but here we are 14 years later and the band are still going strong with their seventh album, The Veil of Control for Profound Lore Records. The trio of Jeff Eber (drums), Kevin Hufnagel (guitars), and
Colin Marston (bass) have not only kept busy with their own band and assorted side projects, but both Hufnagel and Marston also spend considerable time in legendary death metal act Gorguts.
If you have had a positive experience with Dysrhythmia's intensely complex instrumental progressive metal in the past, chances are you will love The Veil of Control , a dense, dynamic, and highly enjoyable set of six intricate and quite heavy tracks. Eber's acrobatic drum work is just incredible throughout, whether he is weaving acrobatic jazz-fusion fills or pounding away with manic blast beats, leaving plenty of space for Hufnagel's crushing riffs, textures, and blazing lead lines. Marston as well constantly gets in on the fun, rumbling alongside the drummer on the engaging "Selective Abstraction" or pulsing with some elastic grooves on the atmospheric "Severed and Whole". Crazy enough, Hufnagel uses an electric 12-string guitar solely throughout the album, but as you start to digest all the wonderful colors and textures he's delivering here, it totally makes sense. Honestly, it's hard to really describe the music of Dysrhythmia on any given occasion, and here on The Veil of Control they once again keep you guessing with their blending of prog, jazz, metal, and avant-garde, with lengthy closer "When Whens End" a perfect example of their eclectic nature. Even the title track surprises, as one minute it's an atmospheric prog rock excursion, but then quickly shifts into frantic, furious metal. For straight up prog lunacy, check out the King Crimson inspired "Internal _ Eternal " for some of the most gorgeously complex unison guitar & bass passages you'll hear this year.
At times frightening, and other hauntingly beautiful, The Veil of Control is consistently mesmerizing as well as inspiring. Instrumental music doesn't get much more impressive than this folks.
Track Listing
1) The Veil of Control
2) Internal _ Eternal
3) Black Memory
4) Selective Abstraction
5) Severed and Whole
6) When Whens End
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