A leisurely stroll through Best Buy in search of the 4th season of Sanford and Son led me through the random "I" compact disc section. Lying in the front of the pile was Ion Dissonance’s new release. I never thought that a band such as this would appear in such a place. I sneakily looked around and then grabbed the disc like a beggar running off with the last crust of break. I was also surprised that the disc did not have one of those horrible generic stickers that says: "For fans of Pantera, Hatebreed, and Killswitch Engage." I am not sure if a guy who thinks "Walk" is the heaviest song in the vast world of metal is going to be prepared for anything like this.

Here we have the sophomore release of a band that surprised the hell out me with their debut, …Breathing Is Irrelevant. I direct you back to my review of this release for my discourse of "math-core," a term frequently applied to this band. I took it upon myself to please these "math-core" term users with a sneak peak into the titles of their next album:

1. The Square Root of Eternity
2. Problems and Solutions
3. 3/4’s or 75% of My Rage
4. Where the fuck is my protractor?
5. The Diameter and Circumference of an Eye Stabbed With a Compass
6. Hit with a Rhomboid Parallelogram
7. The Product and Quotients of a Murder
8. 2 Liters or 64 ounces of Blood
9. Area = My Fist X Your Face
10. If two trains left the station at the same time, with one traveling 55 mph and the other 60mph, which train would hit your mother the hardest?

Of course, this is not real. It is just a figment of my imagination. It was created to prove a point. Unless these are the names of the tracks for the next disc, I will see no correlation between this music and math.

As I directed back to the review of their first disc, I would like to do the same for a description of Ion Dissonance’s style of music. This disc is a logical progression from the first album. It shows maturity in the sense that the music is a tad more focused. You can’t really be anymore than a "tad" more focused or else the band would have lost that chaotic edge. The music is still ballsy, angry, and virulent except there is a bit less violent interludes of random riffs. I also noticed that the band incorporated the use of more stop and go mosh riffs. Therefore, this album does groove a bit more than the first. The vocals are the same as the first, still as random as a porn star at a convent, and the drumming and riffs are played with amazing technical dexterity.

I would rather not, for the sake of time, rehash what they sound like. Please refer to my review of their first disc. The differences between the two albums are negligible at best but when you listen to these discs a few times in a row, you tend to be able to notice the smallest discrepancies. I prefer when bands create a new sound and continue with it on the following album, sans experimentation. This is what they have done here and this is quite a feat. I cannot say one damn negative thing about this band. It just some powerful shit that has to be blast to see live. Chaos, violence, and power perfectly executed.

Since I bought this album at Best Buy and was subject to much bullshit as stated by bands, labels, and their reviewers, I’ll end with a cliché review statement like those that appear in shitty metal magazines like Kerrang! and Pit magazine (you know, those horrible lines that are merely written because any negative review would mean loss of advertisers):

"The soundtrack to the mind of a psychopath. This is the kind of stuff you wouldn’t want your mother to hear!"

Review byDouble Ds