Oakland’s Dimesland raised some eyebrows with their debut EP, 2012’s Creepmoon. It was a thrashing, technical mix that landed somewhere between Atheist, Voivod, Martyr, and even the more adventurous Pestilence material, pleasing a lot of ears over its teasing 17 minute run time. But mostly, it was wild, introducing a band that was willing and able to take songs anywhere and everywhere at about any given time.
With their first full length effort, Psychogenic Atrophy, Dimesland takes everything that made Creepmoon so much fun and cranks up the crazy. Riffs are riffier, tempo changes more drastic and functional, and the unpredictable nature is well… unpredictablier. Opener “Are They Cannibals?” makes clear that the band’s parallels with Martyr are being particularly magnified, with equal parts blunt and razor sharp riffage cutting through violent, seemingly random compositions.
But random this is not, as every spastic burst of rhythmic intensity, passage of airy dissonance, and imitation of demented machinery is part of an organized whole. Beyond just that, Dimesland is straight up ballsy in the album’s construction. The longest track, the near 9 minute “Xenolith,” is also the album’s least dense, with much of its space dedicated to a dissonant deconstruction. When it awakens with some insanely heavy material (and just bonkers drum work), it helps to kick off the album’s wickedly cool second half, all leading to monstrous finale “Odd Feats Are Bid And Won.”
Ambition and grand designs are all well and good, but where Dimesland really excels is by never forgetting to just throw down. The brash, fun sides of the influences listed above are all quite apparent throughout the album. From the ‘tude-ridden vocals in “That Cold Moment” (like Kelly Shaefer smashed into the Mongrains in a core-ish blender) to the brief moments of rawk tossed around (irresistible pinch harmonics in “Bound In Stone”), there are enough little touches to bring out the devil grin while you’re busy trying to figure out exactly what is going on.
Which is good, because it can sometimes be a tad overwhelming (the occasional U-turn feels like a U-turn), but one of the coolest things about the album is the anticipation that comes with unraveling the layers. Already an exciting, quirky band, Dimesland gives the impression that they will only grow and expand with time. Psychogenic Atrophy gives us a ton to pick apart as we wait for the next stop on their wacky ride. Buckle up.
