Review: Dysrhythmia

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Dysrhythmia
“Pretest”
(Relapse)

I don’t know how to categorize this one.  You can take that as good or bad.  Right now, as I listen to the uncategorizable bastard, I’d say it’s good.  The name of the band fits their music, I’ll give them that.  Any bands I lay down, that I know of, for touching points on Dysrhthmias sound would inevitably do more harm than good, but here it goes: Bad Brains meets Voivod meets Rush meets, dare I say it, JAZZ, but there’s no saxophones, okay, let’s get that clear.

The bass lays down deep intricate grooves over which the guitar frantically plays around here and there, twisting around the rhythms laid down by bass and drum, sometimes joining them, other times turning its back to them all together.  No vocals on this, just instrumental rock that some might call “math rock,” but I usually hear that term used derisively and far be it from to cast derision on this fine band of crazy musicians.  Steve Albini turned the knobs for Dysrhtmia on this record and his top-notch one-of-a-kind master’s mark is all over this one.  Not your typical release from Relapse Records.