Dysrider – Bury the Omen (Tenacity Music)
Sunday, 22nd March 2015
Formerly known as Trophallaxy and releasing two albums under that moniker, their third album comes after a name change to Dysrider and jumping aboard Tenacity Music’s roster. A simple trip to Bandcamp paints a bit more of an image of the hows/whys of the name change, as their initial debut was much more rooted in symphonic, melodic metal more akin to Nightwish. Nevertheless, Dysrider’s debut fashions itself more of a kindred spirit with bands like Therion or even Omnium Gatherum.
Dysrider takes the more symphonic approach of their past and successfully merges it into something else, with the influences of a more aggressive, and melodic death metal based approach. Vocalist (and cellist) Joëlle belts out some sometimes operatic/always convincing vocals, that are countered by keyboardist Jonathan’s roars. Melding the two approaches is actually done quite skillfully, and the usually heavier approach (than say, Nightwish/Epica/etc) gives them a little bit of their own space. Sometimes grandiose keyboards, biting melodic death metal riffage with some occasional blast beats offers a slightly fresh perspective on the whole ‘beauty and the beast’ vocal range. The tempo is often upbeat, offering a number of headbang-inducing riffs that are destined to stick in your head (see “Story of Power” or “Against Your Own”). It’s nice to see a band of this style not resort to shoving the vocals in your face the entire time. It’s quite clear that the instrumentation is given as much of the leading role as the vocals. There’s even the cello-led instrumental “Bliss in Darkness,” which was so effective a piece (with some blast beats and all) that it took a few times to realize that there were no vocals!
So with a fresh start with the Dysrider name, Bury the Omen is a gem of an album that is probably destined to fall under the radar of most. The way that the band meshes the symphonic elements with the more aggressive tones is a winning combination. Let’s hope they can get their name out a bit to capitalize on it.
