Sunday, August 23, 2009

Posted by xjustinx |

In the mid to late 90s, Dissolve were one of the few bands starting to do truly interesting things in the realm of metalcore. Hailing from Poughkeepsie, NY, Dissolve were still able to stand out amongst such great contemporaries as All Out War, Drowning Room, Overcast, etc. This full length, Caveman of the Future was originally intended to come out on MIA Records in 2000, but just after putting out releases for Indecision, Darkest Hour, Candiria, and Disassociate, the label folded. The record saw it's way around the scene via various tape trading circles in the early 2000s, but didn't see a proper release until last year on Trip Machine Laboratories.
Caveman of the Future starts off like a wrecking ball with the track "The Ultimate Nullifier." Ranging from heavey power chord progressions to dissonant, off timed parts, the song (like many Dissolve songs) feels like a journey. Vocalist, Paul Thorstenson provides a unique delivery that avoids becoming stale like the guttural growl of so many metalcore bands.
Standout tracks such as Graverobber, Flamethrower, and Subhuman are true crossover gems. From opposite sides of the spectrum, they can easily be viewerd as songs that are either just hardcore enough, or just metal enough to keep everyone happy. You can always hear various influences creeping through such as Voivod, Cro-Mags, Neurosis, Kiss It Goodbye, and more. These songs are a breath of fresh air for a mature metal/hardcore listener. They don't follow familiar formulas, or rely on standard chug parts to "open that shit up!" The production sounds large enough to give that sense of urgent pounding during the heaviest of parts, but also leaves just enough space to be able to differentiate what each guitar player is doing. For those older listeners that enjoy experimentation from a band via the likes of jazzy interludes laced with piano (see track 11: Dreadnought), and for the younger kids tired of metal being played for people that don't really like metal (see Trap Them and Saviours), Caveman of the Future should be a great dose of organic feeling metalcore.

Three tracks from Caveman of the Future are on the music player at:
www.myspace.com/dissolveusa
It can be ordered from the fine folks at Trip Machine Laboratories:
www.tripmachinelabs.bigcartel.com
(where it's currently on sale for the low price of $5.50!)



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