Band:	Dysrhythmia
Album:	Coffin Of Conviction
Style:	Technical progressive metal
Release date:	June 2024
A review by:	RaduP

01. Coffin Of Conviction
02. Headspace Extraction
03. All Faults
04. No Breath After Beauty
05. Subliminal Order
06. The Luxury Of Disbelief
07. Light From The Zenith

You'll rarely find a more fitting band name.

I have this little space in my mind for what I call "Colin Marston bands". That's a little unfair to Dysrhythmia since Colin Marston isn't even a founding member of the band, having joined in 2004, by the time the band already had three albums out. But regardless, he is the glue that ties a lot of these bands together in my mind, maybe even some that don't actually have him in their lineup, but he either produced or guested on their albums. Krallice is the one that comes to mind the most (covered by yours truly here and here), but the man's reach goes deeper and deeper. But I somehow never got to touch one of the oldest of the bands in his reach.

As I said it's a bit unfair to use just Colin Marston as a point of reference here, since both he and Kevin Hufnagel are also currently Gorguts members, which is inarguably an even bigger point of reference. So there's quite a big chance that folks would be more familiar with Gorguts than either of the bands I've referenced, but those who are familiar will no doubt be aware of that specific touch that those "Colin Marston bands" have. A kind of progressive music that relies a lot on pushing dissonance and... uhhh... dysrhythmia to its final form, the final conclusion of technical music, whether that's within metal or not. Dysrhythmia and Coffin Of Conviction are particularly more on the border of what is metal than confidently on either side. And technical as it is, the final conclusion of technical music this is not.

The first thing about Dysrhythmia is that this is an instrumental trio. Everyone knows vocals are the best indicator of genre, for the lack of it, the riffing follows, and the riffing on Coffin Of Conviction is not something I'd exactly describe as heavy, but rather colorful. Not exactly in a playful or jovial way, but one if which the grooves are twisted, but they do exist as genuine grooves, maybe even pleasantly melodic (see the interplay with the synths in the closing track). Everything can be angular and dealt with in uncommonalities in the technical sense, but the intensity of something like Encenathrakh is dialed back for something that's more Don Caballero-style math rock spiced with King Crimson avant-jazz-prog than a complete assault on the senses, both in the density of notes and in the density of the production. Sure, it's not without its metalness, as I've already placed it on the border of it, but a lot of it more akin to the noodliest of Cynic's moments.

I don't follow Dysrhythmia to enough of a degree as to confidently place Coffin Of Conviction within the larger context. This is already a very niche that naysayers will call "soulless", and while I do find plenty of soul to be felt here rather than a mere exercise, I think the appeal would be largely among the crowd who do prefer their guitars noodly and their riffing angular. Thirty minutes of it though, that's not a test of endurance even for the ones outside the crowd.