Joining Ars Magna Umbrae and God knows how many others in the list of "bands whose debut albums I wish I reviewed so I'm making up for it now", Decoherence's debut, Ekpyrosis, impressed me as a slab of industrial and cosmic black metal that felt very reminiscent of both bands I mentioned in the attention-grabber. In the meantime (and also before their debut), the trio has been very busy with a lot of EPs and one split, giving them a bit more space (no Darkspace pun intended) to hone their craft before a sophomore. And here, ladies and gentlemen, we have the sophomore. And maybe it's for the better that I waited for this one to review Decoherence, because this is definitely the best they've done.
Reducing their sound to a blend of the aforementioned bands is a bit reductive, but a fairly accurate idea of Decoherence's sound can be painted from those. Blut Aus Nord's sound, particularly of the industrial variety, is strongly felt especially in the programmed drums, the noise collages and some of the mechanical riffing that sporadically appears. Darkspace's sound, particularly of the cosmic variety, takes it and smothers it with dissonance enough to make it cold and dense. The ominous ambiance that is generated as a result of the two, whether of the actual ambient variety or of the black metal one, doesn't really feel that distinct, freely flowing between the two almost as if they're one. Sure, there are moments more industrial and moments more ambient, but Decoherence have never been better at blurring the line.
If technical death metal's obsession with the alien world is of the more sci-fi variety, Decoherence's one does involve some science of the atomic and quantic variety, but most of it lies in the unexplained or further into the unexplainable. This isn't just the cold of the void of space, this is the cold of the void of humanity's ability to perceive and comprehend. Hence why the music feels like such an incomprehensible and maddening slab of music. It's dense, but thankfully dense in such a way that doesn't take away from the mechanical drumming or riffs, leaving them to still be somewhat distinguishable, sometimes more, sometimes less, but leaving the vocals to be an eternal roar that cannot be detached from the harsh coldness of the music. Even though those can be somewhat one-dimensional at times, the album does enough both by its focus on atmosphere and by how creative the guitar playing can get regardless of how much it essentially keeps the slab going. It keeps it going so much that the last song essentially loops into the first one.
Thankfully Unitarity expands on the strengths of Ekpyrosis' sound, both by being better sounding overall and by making sure it does more interesting things besides the sound it creates. Room for improvement still exists, but there are very few bands out there with such a commanding presence over the harshness of space and the lacunae of humanity's abilities.
