Review: Dissona – Receptor

Style: Progressive metal, symphonic metal, cyber metal (Mixed vocals, mostly clean)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Celldweller, Sybreed, Leprous (Bilateral)
Country: United States
Release date: 1 October 2025

Among the pantheon of progressive metal are a bevy of celestial bodies, all unique in form and composition. Dream Theater is the dark matter that scaffolds and bears the galaxy, inspiring a rich array of artists past, present, and future; Between the Buried and Me is an asterism, collating a multitude of styles into a grand structure greater than the sum of its parts; and Cynic graciously extend their psychedelic fusion metal tendrils as a floaty, ethereal nebula. At the outskirts of the progressive galaxy live Dissona, a trembling ball of chaos that defies physics in its sheer compositional weight. Their 2016 release, Paleopneumatic, was an exercise in grandeur that invoked baroque instrumentation, operatic vocals, and concentrated knots of complexity. Inspired by Blade Runner, 2023’s Dreadfully Distinct was a roadmap for Dissona’s future work, focusing less on the neoclassical sounds that dotted Paleopneumatic in favor of something more futuristic and electronic. Let’s investigate the Chicago outfit’s latest transmission, Receptor, and see what messages can be decoded from its gravitational waves.

Receptor is a neutron star of progressive metal songwriting—its pieces are endlessly dense, spinning with undying fervence and carrying an overwhelming and irresistible gravity to them. Very little time is given for warmup, as the opening title track begins with an intricate synthesizer arpeggio, stuttering guitar-drum interplay juxtaposed by maximalist orchestration, and a larger-than-life, deliciously manic vocal performance from David Dubenic. Only when we approach the core of the record does its angular momentum begin to cease, placing calmer interludes along its runtime. “Becoming Home” features gentle and nostalgic guitar work from Matt Motto and the electronic pulsations of “Haimatox” are soft yet utterly cold. Late album cuts “Chimeric” and “Shadow Consummation” take plenty of time to slow down, the former indulging in plaintive strings and lamenting vocals while the latter maintains a dramatic flair despite its slower clip. Even the lyrical themes lean into Receptor’s disquieting grandiosity: the record follows the trajectory of a man who is tempted by and subsequently integrated with a sort of eldritch alien technology that mutates him into an unrecognizable monstrosity.¹

What both the quieter and more aggressive tracks have in common is a songwriting approach that leans heavily on through-composition. Receptor’s ideas and choruses are rarely repeated more than once, opening up space for plenty of musical surprises. “Red Mist”, for example, is otherworldly and flourishing in its opening moments but ends on a positively demonic note as Dubenic snarls viciously over orchestral stabs. “Receptor” follows its intricate symphonics with head-spinning drum rhythms from Drew Goddard; in its concluding moments, Dubenic is joined by Fabienne Erni of Eluveitie for a positively ascendant intertwining vocal passage. The biggest surprise of all, though, is the first instrumental break of “Incisor”, which completely subverts the track’s cinematic buildup with a thick and bassy EDM drop à la Lucid Planet’s “Organic Hard Drive” but considerably more menacing and heavy. This instrumental break is an absolute shock at first and continues to thrill on subsequent listens, like taking a microscopic dive into the narrator’s veins and watching the alien substance saturate his body. From there, the chorus readies a strike on the listener like a lurking creature, featuring a punchy guitar lick and precise drumming before rolling right back into the electronics for a breathtaking conclusion. 

In an album already broaching the density of a black hole, these switchups add even more flavor and interest. Such a glutted approach to songwriting can almost be too much at times, and Dissona are quite prudent to pepper the record with more subdued tracks as a counter-weight. The rhapsodic walls of instrumentation and over-the-top vocals can prove to be exhausting, but carefully thought out interludes give space for the listener to breathe after the more intense tracks. In addition to these calmer moments, I would have loved to see more medium-intensity tracks to further even out the sound. “Suffuse” is a great example of this, slowly building tension with mysterious folk instrumentation and brooding bass from Craig Hamburger. Motto’s guitars are droning and hypnotic, following suit with the folky atmosphere, and Dubenic shows off his more muted vocal techniques, tightening his voice for a creepy and thin delivery in the verses. “Suffuse” shows that Dissona’s core sound works both in their standard hyper-maximalist context and in their more restrained moments; just a bit more tweaking is needed to perfect the overall balance.

A pervasive ominousness encompasses Receptor, augmented by intentionally sparse lyrical details. On “Incisor”, the narrator discusses the effects of his quote-unquote ‘upgrade’ with unsettling juxtaposition: ‘There is a power here / That makes one crawl as well as tower tall / Woven yet unraveled / So reduced, yet so evolved’. The impressionistic imagery leaves one to fill in the gaps themselves about what kind of fucked up substance could cause someone to go through such unimaginably manic swings in state. “Receptor” evokes excitement and visions of grandeur, matching the all-consuming urge of the narrator to integrate themselves with the accursed alien technology. In addition, “It Will Drown” hopelessly lumbers about djenty chugs while Dubenic proclaims ‘Look in me a while longer / Warmth will return / Shine brighter than before’ in a blown-out, elongated quasi-slur. The lyrics match the feel of the music excellently and are appropriately delivered in the context of the Kronenberg beast born from the narrator’s shell. At times, though, the lyrics do get a bit vague, to the point that the plot is hard to follow—it’s not always clear what the narrator is having done to them, what its effects are, or the other characters who are at play throughout the story. The inclusion of a bit more detail would go a long way in making the plot a bit more tractable and compelling outside of its highlights.

Menacing, cinematic, and full of surprises, Receptor is a powerful burst of progressive stellar radiation. Through larger-than-life orchestral arrangements, head-spinning instrumentation, and a manic vocal performance, Dissona craft a resplendent atmosphere guaranteed to enrapture the listener. At the same time, a careful balance of their sound is managed through soft interludes and slower pieces that break up the surrounding chaos. Receptor is a considerably dense and utterly rewarding effort—take a chance and get ensnared in its magnetism.

Recommended tracks: Incisor, Receptor, Suffuse, Red Mist
You may also like: Kalisia, Lucid Planet, Apeiron Bound, Howling Sycamore
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Independent

Dissona is:
– Craig Hamburger (bass)
– Drew Goddard (drums)
– Matt Motto (guitars)
– David Dubenic (vocals)
With guests:
– Fabienne Erni (vocals)

1. Even the lyric sheet that was sent with the promo was in all caps, which feels wholly fitting in this case. ↩︎