Dissentience – Empire Anatomy (Self-Released)
Friday, 4th March 2022
The level of professionalism and execution on the DIY/independent circuit for heavy metal often stands on a similar scale to what’s being released by the top sellers on conventional labels like Nuclear Blast, Metal Blade, Napalm, and Century Media. Pennsylvania’s Dissentience is one of those forces from the underground – together almost a decade and following up a potent 2018 EP release Mask of Pretense with their latest full-length Empire Anatomy. Incorporating influences from the thrash/death spectrum with splashes of modern angst, groove, and melody, these ten tracks provide ample opportunities for a wide array of heavy music followers to process, appreciate, and flood their bodies with crushing material that fuels any tough situation to make things much more tolerable.
Between the stacks of ripping riffs, harmony runs, and stellar melodic to shredding insanity within the hands of Connor Valentin and Jimmy Vitale on guitars, axe mavens should have a plethora of work to absorb and inspire. Check out the steady off-time crunchy interplay during “Clinical Psychosis” or the low-tuned tremolo to thick, progressive intermingling for “Cabal” to know that these gentlemen appreciate a mix of melodic death, thrash, groove, and extreme players of both the North American and European variety. The versatility track to track in terms of atmosphere and textures gives bassist Sean Langer and drummer Nick Scherden tricky combinations to deliver – combining the sense of fullness and intricacy while also settling into some solid power groove sequences when serving the song best. The opener “War of Belief” sets the tone, a bevy of double kick/semi-blasting measures balanced against some straightforward thrash and modern, melodic death tempos while the twin guitar harmonies launch in at different angles. Warning horns signal the start of “The End (And All Between)” – Connor using his raspy roar in a rhythmic pattern for the verses, while the slower riffs prove Dissentience can be just as brutal at controlled paces as they can when blitzing the aural landscape. Revisiting an old demo favorite “Reckoning Day” as the concluding track, the attention to detail keeps these arrangements lean and mean, leading to a solid thirty-nine-minute outing that should leave you battered, sweaty, and thirsting for more.
It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific style or act Dissentience sound similar to – those who love the work of Revocation, Slayer, Trivium, latter Death, and Sepultura need Empire Anatomy in your record collection. The progression of songwriting and delivering premiere performances in a professional package should elevate the band into more ardent followers, as its well deserved.
