Search - Ion Dissonance :: Minus the Herd

(2.5 stars) A very meh album

A. Stutheit | Denver, CO USA | 02/02/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Ion Dissonance have always been an insanely technical math/noise/grindcore band, but for their newest full-length, "Minus The Herd," they pared back that technical wizardry significantly in favor of a much simpler, denser, slower, and more restrained and stripped down approach. It seems this Montreal, Canada-based quintet were making a concerted attempt to sound more modern and accessible, and if that was their intent, then they succeeded. Unfortunately, though, this new approach mostly backfired and does not work in their favor because they are now just another generic deathcore Johnny-come-lately. Yes, granted, it can be expected that when a band recruits a new vocalist, their sound is going to change at least somewhat. But look at Black Sabbath and Sepultura - they remained fairly consistent after losing their respective original lead singers, and a band like Fleshgore actually improved quite greatly after they lost theirs. Thus, even though this is Ion Dissonance's first effort with Kevin McCaughey behind the mic, there is no excuse for THIS big of a change.



Sure, there are some positives of this new sound, including a thicker, Meshuggah-esque guitar tone and distortion, chunky, crunching riffing, occasionally audible bass lines, ginormous, pummeling breakdowns, semi-intelligible vocals, accessible song structures, and even a trace of melody (gasp!). Plus, this album is, overall, remarkably easy to listen to and digest (in fact, this is probably Ion Dissonance's most listenable release to date).



With that said, "Minus The Herd" is definitely missing that certain intangible "something," and its negatives overshadow and outweigh its noteworthy advantages. First of all, to be perfectly frank, it just isn't all that interesting or exciting. The musicianship (especially the guitar-drum interplay) is extremely tight - too much so, in fact, because it usually comes across as annoyingly mechanical, hollow, and lacking any real spark or inspiration. So, sure, this album might be crushingly heavy, but it is rarely intense, and might as well have been created by robots.



Secondly, monotony begins to set in very early on. Track two, "For Evidence," is a definite bright spot, and has a wealth of potential and promise. Drummer Jean-Francois "JP" Richard gets some time in the spotlight here by unleashing a wealth of excellent, propulsive, mind-bogglingly hyperspeed double bass pummel that gets drilled into the listener's skull. But the rest of the record simply fails to stack up to that one song. A few other standout tracks surface here and there -- like the fairly mathy "Shunned Redeemer" (which boasts a lumbering rhythm that could have been lifted wholesale off of Meshuggah's "Catch 33"); the awesomely ambient and Isis-esque untitled instrumental interlude; and the doomy outro of "Void Of Conscience" -- but not many. For the most part, this disc is a thirty-three minute-long wall of hookless, crashing, thunderously booming, off-kilter noise that almost constantly bogs down in the same tired riff/breakdown/riff formula. Thus, individual songs are almost impossible to distinguish between.



To be fair, "Minus The Herd" is a passable album, and it even makes for a fairly enjoyable listen (mainly because of its sheer sonic heaviness), but it is ultimately unsatisfying and almost completely forgettable and unremarkable. There's just something about it that doesn't seem to click. Its main problem is probably its lack of originality - Ion Dissonance were never the most innovative or unique band on the market (i.e. their last release, 2005's "Solace," was very Converge/Dillinger Escape Plan-lite), but this is definitely not a step in the right direction. In a time when the deathcore genre is completely glutted, "MTH" does nothing to stand out from the crowd or warrant a listen from anyone who isn't a diehard fan."

One of the best albums i've heard in a while

Alberto Novales | PA/NJ/NY | 06/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ion dissonance had been one of those bands i had been putting off checking out, but i remember i really liked their guitar tone from the song i heard. so i got minus the herd, and was instantly blown away. it's so heavy, yet the songwriting is solid. the songs flow into each other very well, and each song is memorable. i really recommend taking the album in as a whole. i read some reviews here, and i checked out their two other albums. i understand where the fans are coming from, compared to the other two, minus the herd is like a really long breakdown, but i feel like this album really says something. i think it's an achievement, and it's slow for a reason. they do sound a lot like meshuggah at times, but ion dissonance has way more going on in the songwriting and they gracefully avoid getting boring. they're like meshuggah meets converge. the album is very much more on the "hardcore" side than the metal or "death metal" side. their new vocalist has a great tone to his scream, a lot of control and power. there is something about their guitar tone that makes them very dissonant (8 string maybe? i dunno...) my favorite part of minus the herd is the quality production, everything is crystal clear and mixed perfectly. the lyrics are also very well written, though i feel like the rhythmic alignment of the syllables could've been better. if you want a barrage of nonstop riffs and blast beats, listen to their first two albums or psyopus, despised icon, dillinger, beneath the massacre, or job for a cowboy. if you're into stuff like meshuggah or tool or converge or fear factory, check out minus the herd. if you like minus the herd by ion dissonance, check out car bomb "centralia". you'd also probably like the band emmure."