Metal Underground.com

Newly signed to Basick Records and finally releasing a debut EP after years of obscurity, Dissipate’s “Tectonics” covers a lot of ground in less than half an hour across five full tracks and an interlude. The band’s musical description online is both simultaneously a simple and complex offering, reading: “Technical/Groove/Djent/Hardcore/Metal/Thrash/Shred.” While I’m not personally hearing much of the thrash, the rest of those genre identifiers actually apply throughout the course of this ridiculously-brutal look into what Dissipate has to offer.

“Tectonics” is an eclectic release if there ever was one, spanning mostly across the death, ‘core, and technical realms of heavy metal. Songs like “Becoming the Mantis” bring out the frenzied tech side at maximum force, complete with the requisite front-and-center bass line craziness. Other tracks like “Mech Fail” and the title song even unload some mainstream oriented clean singing as a contrast to the death aspects.

The unexpected vocal change-ups and the various metalcore elements across the disc may be end up being bit of a downside for those who want extreme music untainted by anything outside the underground. That being said, the sheer controlled chaos of these songs easily overcomes any question of metal purity.

Even with all the variety in sound and structure and the game of genre whack-a-mole being played, the EP as a whole is unified by extreme heaviness in the guitar sounds that rarely let up. Different sounds assault the listener from all directions, offering very little downtime and a constant stream of guitar insanity that doesn’t just require head banging; it practically creates a one-man mosh pit of body spasms. If you can dig some metalcore and clean vocals in your technical death metal, definitely give this one a shot.