Swiss modern death metal/deathcore act Conjonctive was a group we featured seven years ago with their sophomore effort, In the Mouth of the Devil. It had lots of groove and ‘core-driven chugs, but it succeeded because it offered more than those to the listener. While the time lapse was long, due to a brief hiatus and some line-up changes, it seems that time has not tempered the band’s fury in the least. New album Misère de Poussière brings lots of heavy riffing and frantic energy to the table, offering fans of extreme music a well balanced release that never lacks for urgency.
Admittedly, the biting energy is the band’s finest weapon. Their modern sound is filled with heaviness, and the riffing has some massive weight to it. Regardless of if they are blasting at full-speed or chugging through a groove, the music grabs you. “Dying Melody” opens with some exemplary material in this regard. Thunderous riffs hit hard and don’t take long before they accelerate in tempo. Inserting just enough melody into it as the song progresses, it comes off as incredibly hooky for as visceral as it is. As they switch up tempos and riff patterns, they never relent for a second. Going along with this intensity is their vocal approach. Dual vocals from Sonia and Randy, such as those on “Summer Hunt,” offer a powerful variety and also keeps the listener guessing as they never go for a ‘set pattern’ as the pair face off throughout the tracks. It’s particularly refreshing to hear them avoid the cliched patterns that male/female vocal patterns usually fall prey to. Lastly, the aforementioned melodic aspect. While it’s all death metal from beginning to end, the way the melodies are woven in, such as “Nocturnal Terror” they try to bring in a number of extreme metal influences without watering down their sound, even providing some dips into blackened territory.
Conjonctive are back, and they’ve brought a heightened sense of urgency to their music. It’s as brutal and downright heavy as anything else you’d expect in the genre, but Misère de Poussière provides an impressive array of diversity without any compromise. Which gives it an edge to much of it’s competition. An act deserving of more attention for sure.