deadseapianorolls

Dysrhythmia

Dysrhythmia is a brutal prog/progressive metal band from Philadelphia — and now, Brooklyn — formed in August of 1998. Originally an informal collaboration between guitarist Kevin Hufnagel and bass guitarist Clayton Ingerson, Dysrhythmia became a rock band in earnest with the addition of drummer Jeff Eber in early 1999. It was with this lineup that Dysrhythmia released their first three full-length albums, including “Pretest”, their first release with Relapse Records. At the end of 2004, however, founding member Clayton Ingerson left the band and was replaced by Colin Marston on bass guitar. Marston has engineered most of the band’s work since then, in Menegroth: The Thousand Caves, his recording studio in Queens. Both Clayton Ingerson and Kevin Hufnagel have played as part of doom metal outfit While Heaven Wept. Both Kevin Hufnagel and Colin Marston are also members of the new (reunited) lineup of Canadian tech death outfit Gorguts. Jeff Eber has been a member of New York jazz metal/avant-prog outfit Zevious since its inception in 2007. Colin Marston has created and/or been a member of a variety of other experimental music (usually, but not always, metal/rock-oriented) projects, most notably Krallice, Behold… The Arctopus, Infidel? / Castro!, and Indricothere (a solo project).

The music of Dysrhythmia has been consistently “difficult”, insofar as it is characterised, in the minds of most people, as being technical & abrasive instrumental metal/rock. It is, however, considerably more rooted in traditional approaches to musical composition — associated with progressive rock/metal, ultimately western classical music, and even math rock — than the music of, say, Behold… The Arctopus. Somewhat humorously, RateYourMusic consistently labels Dysrhythmia’s music as “math rock”. While Dysrhythmia do show signs of influence from fellow Pennsylvania natives Don Caballero — particularly in their earlier works — the actual influence of post-hardcore is minimal, and Dysrhythmia’s music (again, particularly later work) is much better characterised by labels like progressive metal and even brutal prog. Or, perhaps having one album produced by Steve Albini (“Pretest”) is enough to be considered a “math rock band” forever…

In any case, Dysrhythmia are a band that put equal emphasis on all three components of their power trio, and their music is perhaps most unique due to the harmonic and melodic sensibilities of guitarist Kevin Hufnagel (and later,

Dysrhythmia’s music often sees Hufnagel’s guitarwork floating fairly freely, playing in counterpoint to the

bass guitar

precomposed solos, betraying the influence of progressive rock/metal. And, of course, the song structures at play in Dysrhythmia’s music are complex, often simultaneously appearing to be both through-composed and formal. At this point, their musical output to date is well-known and well-respected enough to make them behemoths of instrumental experimental rock.

As an interesting sidenote, their latest release as of this writing (“Terminal Threshold”) is somewhat of a non-sequitur to the works leading up to it. This album alone has lead to the band being tagged here with “technical thrash metal” (tech thrash). “Terminal Threshold” owes much more influence to classic Texan tech thrash outfit Watchtower than previous Dysrhythmia efforts (although, cf. Watchtower guitarist Ron Jarzombek’s instrumental project, Blotted Science). The bass guitar is much less present here than in previous works, and the compositions are much more compact (the longest cut clocking in at just 4:31). Even the approach to audio production is different — still as slick and steeped in modern techniques as “The Veil Of Control”, but with a more classic-sounding focus on lows and low-mids (and thus apparently quieter sound).

notes on the distributions

The recordings of “Annihilation II” and “Annihilation I” that appear on Dysrhythmia’s split with XthoughtstreamsX are different from those that appear on “Pretest”.

The recording of “And Just Go” that appears on Dysrhythmia’s split with Technician is different from the one that appears on “Pretest”.

The final track on “Pretest” (“An Ally To Comprehension”) is a Japan-only bonus track. A re-recording of this tune appears on “Barriers and Passages”. The deadseapianorolls distribution for “Pretest” includes only this track.

The final track on “Barriers and Passages” (“Void”) is a Japan-only bonus track. The deadseapianorolls distribution for “Barriers and Passages” includes only this track.

Dysrhythmia discography

title	Contradiction	No Interference	[split] Dysrhythmia / XthoughtstreamsX	[split] Technician / Dysrhythmia	Pretest	Live from the Relapse Contamination Festival	Barriers and Passages	[split] Fractures	Psychic Maps	Test of Submission	The Veil Of Control	Terminal Threshold
cover art
other art	reverse and side of cover jewel case CD liner notes jewel case tray art	outside of cover inside of jewel case CD		liner notes liner notes [1] disc side A disc side B	reverse side of cover jewel case tray art liner notes liner notes [1] liner notes [2] Japanese release liner notes Japanese release liner notes [1] CD CD [1]	reverse and side of cover liner-notes booklet art jewel case tray art CD	original cover outside of cover inside of jewel case sticker Japanese release cover Japanese release liner notes Japanese release liner notes [1] Japanese release liner notes [2] CD	reverse side of cover liner notes CD	outside of cover inside of jewel case CD	reverse and side of cover inside of jewel case inside of jewel case [1] liner notes CD	outside of cover inside of jewel case booklet liner notes CD side A of vinyl disc side B of vinyl disc	reverse side of cover jewel case side A of vinyl disc side B of vinyl disc side A of vinyl disc [1] side B of vinyl disc [1]
year	2000	2001	2001	2002	2003	2004	2006	2007	2009	2012	2016	2019
tracklist	1 Ladder 7:30 2 Side Walk 2:41 3 Burning Cinders In A Freefall 6:24 4 Rotary 10:16 5 Polytrip 13:22 6 Lost In Disguise 7:17 7 Yes, It's Kind Of An Oxymoron 2:03 8 Earthquake 9:22 total duration 58:56	1 Body Destroyed, Brain Intact 3:01 2 Craving for Transformation 4:15 3 No Interference 7:20 4 Circulatory System Overhaul 6:35 5 Let You Fall 10:52 6 Orbiting 7:00 7 Nutritional Facelift 3:04 8 Slumlord 4:00 9 We Lead the Way 3:54 10 Psychic Desolation 4:40 11 Four, Five, Six Minutes Late 1:51 total duration 56:33	1 Dysrhythmia — Annihilation II 6:14 2 Dysrhythmia — Annihilation I 4:07 3 XthoughtstreamsX — Insert 2:53 4 XthoughtstreamsX — Woodshed Grind 0:55 5 XthoughtstreamsX — Hardcore, Indie, Pop 3:36 6 XthoughtstreamsX — Something I Know 2:53 total duration 20:38	1 Technician — How To Win The West 4:51 2 Dysrhythmia — And Just Go 5:47 total duration 10:38	1 Bastard 6:07 2 My Relationship 2:29 3 And Just Go 6:16 4 Heat Sink 4:21 5 Running Shoe Of Justice 5:45 6 Annihilation II 6:14 7 Annihilation I 4:07 8 Catalog Of Personal Faults 5:25 9 Touch Benediction 11:39 10 An Ally To Comprehension 3:57 total duration 56:22	1 Bastard 6:03 2 My Relationship 2:55 3 And Just Go 6:21 4 Annihilation I 4:56 5 Catalog of Personal Faults 5:32 total duration 25:47	1 Pulsar 1:14 2 Appeared At First 3:06 3 Bypass The Solenoid 3:14 4 An Ally To Comprehension 4:10 5 Seal/Breaker/Void 7:42 6 Kamma Nyama 2:23 7 Sleep Decayer 5:32 8 Bus: Terminal 1:46 9 Luminous 4:25 10 Will The Spirit Prevail? 3:23 11 Void 7:06 total duration 44:02	1 Dysrhythmia — Earthquake 14:16 2 Rothko — Tell Your Story To The Winds 7:33 3 Rothko — Torch 4:53 total duration 26:42	1 Festival of Popular Delusions 4:22 2 Triangular Stare 5:48 3 Reactionary 5:05 4 Room of Vertigo 6:49 5 Iron Cathedral 4:24 6 Lifted by Skin 10:50 total duration 37:19	1 In Secrecy 5:11 2 Test of Submission 4:53 3 The Line Always Snaps 6:06 4 Running Towards the End 5:41 5 In the Spirit of Catastrophe 7:02 6 The Madness of Three 4:33 7 Like Chameleons 4:03 8 In Consequence 7:45 total duration 45:15	1 The Veil Of Control 5:41 2 Internal / Eternal 6:24 3 Black Memory 4:57 4 Selective Abstraction 5:03 5 Severed and Whole 5:08 6 When Whens End 8:30 total duration 35:42	1 Nuclear Twilight 4:21 2 Power Symmetry 3:39 3 Plague Delay 4:13 4 Progressive Entrapment 4:30 5 Twin Stalkers 4:11 6 Rule of the Mountain 4:31 7 Never Was Then Again 3:51 8 Premonition Error 2:48 total duration 32:04
distributions	dspr? format source gratis? URLs yes FLAC @ 44.1kHz & 16bit CD rip yes [1] [2] [3]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD bandcamp no [1]	None! Do you have one?	None! Do you have one?	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] yes FLAC @ 44.1kHz & 16bit CD rip yes [1] [2] [3]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD bandcamp no [1]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD bandcamp no [1] yes FLAC @ 44.1kHz & 16bit CD rip yes [1] [2] [3]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs yes FLAC @ 44.1kHz & 16bit CD rip yes [1] [2] [3]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD bandcamp no [1]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD Profound Lore Records no [1]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1] no CD bandcamp no [1]	dspr? format source gratis? URLs no FLAC bandcamp no [1]