Genres: technical death metal, prog thrash metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Atheist, Horrendous, Voivod, (early early) Cynic, Necrophagist
Country: Canada
Release date: 26 January 2024
Pedigree is a funny thing. A new band’s members’ previous projects provide certain expectations for similar greatness: it’s a coin flip if that materializes. A debut with the weight of names like Beyond Creation, Sutrah, Cthe’illist, and First Fragment behind it can only ever meet expectations since it would be near impossible to exceed them. “Supergroups” with heavy hitters are doomed to fail because how could they possibly top the ghosts of their past? Dissimulator, a new trio distilled from the legendary Montreal tech scene, are the new supergroup on the block: do they have what it takes to exceed expectations?
Rather than taking a forward look at the possibilities for tech, Lower Form Resistance is a historical gaze into the swampy waters of the seminal tech scene—a bastard child of death metal and thrash circa 1988-93. I hear the frantic, angular riffs of Atheist, hints of Nocturnus’ wicked, atmospheric thrashing death metal, the filth from Cynic’s earliest demos and the vocoder from Focus, and a whole lot of Voivod’s endless, technocentric onslaught of brutal thrash metal technicality. Moreover, Lower Form Resistance does an excellent job at keeping the manic energy of that scene alive; and that scene had endless energy—Atheist live had the most verve of any band I’ve ever seen even with Kelly pushing sixty. As far as love letters go, Lower Form Resistance is primed to be a phenomenal homage to the scene.
What takes Dissimulator to the next level is the production courtesy of Hugues Deslauriers (his Metallum credits him with producing some seriously fantastic sounding albums like Gloire Éternelle). While there’s a charm to the gritty, DIY production of the ‘88-‘93 albums, they’re certainly not up to the standard of today. Dissimulator expertly balance a modern sound without sacrificing the loamier production that the chrome-clad new stuff lacks. Especially notable is the glorious bass of Antoine Daigneault who rumbles out sick licks constantly, the backbone of Dissimulator’s sound. He’s placed high in the mix and takes advantage, cranking out both backing parts for the guitar riffs and his own chaotic leads (see the solo at the end of “Automoil & Robotoil”) with alacrity.
Although I love the era and sound that Dissimulator echo, the riffs themselves occasionally seem uninspired. You could easily be fooled with their absurd pace, coming off as recklessly fun, but the guitar parts lack something that Phillippe Boucher’s fleet-footed drumming and the lovely production can’t mask forever. Dissimulator simply aren’t as dangerous as they appear at first glance. Unlike Atheist or other contemporaries obsessed with this era (see Horrendous), Lower Form Resistance doesn’t have as many angular, jagged riffs as I crave. We have nonstop, rambunctious thrash riffs aplenty, but there simply aren’t as many insane cadence, meter, and intensity shifts as this style needs. Go listen to Unquestionable Presence or Dimension Hatröss again if you need a refresher, but Lower Form Resistance lacks their sheer insanity. For the first time ever, I’m disappointed by how mature a band’s songwriting is; it’s too clean, the transitions too smooth. I want to be throttled and feel the whiplash. Don’t get me wrong, Dissimulator do enact some humongous changes like on “Warped” and “Outer Phase,” but overall they reign in their technicality and wildness a tad too much for an album trying to sound straight out of 1990. Moreover, the songs themselves hardly deviate from each other sonically when this style historically has an aura of weirdness around it. Besides vocoder sections and a brief French spoken word sections, the rest of the album is repetitive thrash metal—where’s the strange ballad, unpredictable jazz break, or zany clean vocals?
If any group of musicians have the chops to recapture the unhinged exuberance of those early tech thrash/death bands, it would be Dissimulator. Alas, perhaps being at the wizened ages of their early thirties has made them too confident in their already experienced songwriting or perhaps it’s just a bygone era we all look back on with rose-colored glasses, but Lower Form Resistance just barely misses the mark. Of course, this is still some breakneck prog thrash and should satisfy your cravings: I don’t want to leave this review too far afield from how infectiously rad most of this album is.
Recommended tracks: Automoil & Robotoil, Warped, Lower Form Resistance
You may also like: Moral Collapse, Sarmat, Cryptic Shift, Cryptosis, Toxik, Nocturnus
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: 20 Buck Spin – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Dissimulator is:
Claude Leduc (Guitars & Vocals)
Antoine Daigneault (Bass)
Philippe Boucher (Drums)
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