Dysthmia - The Audient Void
After a sucessful mix of cover tracks from a live album and a few demos, Italy's Dysthymia are ready to set forth their debut. It is a HUGE step up from the live album as Dysthmia are putting out more original material, and the production is excellent. The vocals on 'The Audient Void' are crisp, clear, and ferocious while being backed with equally ferocious instrumentations but also a lot of melodies mixed with thrash tinged catchy riffs in between. Rather than go the route of just full on non stop bleating of drums at high speed and the incessant blast beats, Dysthymia make their music as varied as possible between tracks. The opening track, "Slow Movements," defies the name as it just obliterates with heavy chugs an sharp chords while the vocals stand on their own so they don't bleed into the music and get lost in the mix. Other tracks like "Damaged Essence" are solo heavy and more thrash oriented with the vocals sounding more black metal influenced in a higher rasp but also featuring the same impressive growl. The same can be found in "Aching Pleasure," which is perhaps the only track on the album that doesn't really stand apart from the others. It certainly features a heavier, more basic set of riffs that repeat over and over, but to listen between the two is basically to hear the same track.
On the other hand, the album tends to shift from thrash and catchiness to a more melodic side on the second half the album. "From Pain I Arise" has a more melodic death metal structure in the vein of Duskfall which just chugs away in catchy melodies and blistering solos, which is a step away from the the thrash bits. "Sensation Seeker" actually features a quiet moment that is very quiet; it features almost a gothic doom moment with a whisper of spoken words before shifting back to the memorable melodic death bits. The closing "Certain Uncertainties" is the most melodic of all and the slow tempo most certainly leans towards gothic doom death with how the chords just drench in anguish while in between the quiet moments; there's even a progressive interlude featuring some very enjoyable symphonic keyboard that does not seem like Dysthmia at all, but works quite well on making a lasting impression all the way to the end. As a result, the entire album is quite the catch. 'The Audient Void' promises a death metal rush that is also esoteric and progressive at times while taking a mix of melody and thrash along with the usual death metal bits, and should provide a welcome respite from all the generic stuff out there these days.
On the other hand, the album tends to shift from thrash and catchiness to a more melodic side on the second half the album. "From Pain I Arise" has a more melodic death metal structure in the vein of Duskfall which just chugs away in catchy melodies and blistering solos, which is a step away from the the thrash bits. "Sensation Seeker" actually features a quiet moment that is very quiet; it features almost a gothic doom moment with a whisper of spoken words before shifting back to the memorable melodic death bits. The closing "Certain Uncertainties" is the most melodic of all and the slow tempo most certainly leans towards gothic doom death with how the chords just drench in anguish while in between the quiet moments; there's even a progressive interlude featuring some very enjoyable symphonic keyboard that does not seem like Dysthmia at all, but works quite well on making a lasting impression all the way to the end. As a result, the entire album is quite the catch. 'The Audient Void' promises a death metal rush that is also esoteric and progressive at times while taking a mix of melody and thrash along with the usual death metal bits, and should provide a welcome respite from all the generic stuff out there these days.
- Slow Movements
- The Sin Eater
- Damaged Eater
- Sink Your Illusions
- Ode On Melancholy
- Aching Pleasure
- From Pain I Arise
- Sensation Seeker
- Certain Uncertainties
Buil2Kill Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 24, 2011
Apr 24, 2011
Next review:
Daemonlord - Godless Prayers
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