It isn’t often I find myself surprised by what I hear and, when that does happen, I’m surprised by the fact I’m surprised at all. Face it, things have been a bit stressful and its hard to enjoy any piece of music in 2025. No matter how hard we all try, something is ready to stare us in the face and continue to cement the fact that 2025 is just a plain bad year for most all. So, here I am, at the tail-end of it and looking for something to get me by. And, frankly, I didn’t expect it to come to me via a four track EP by Pennsylvanian thrash metal band called DISSENTIENCE. But here we are with their new EP ‘Kaiju‘.
Admittedly, I am a tokusatsu fan, and seeing that Kaiju (for those unfamiliar with the term – think ‘Godzilla’) is a concept album of sorts, focused on chronicling the destruction caused by a collosal beast of the same sort, I was doubtlessly going to gravitate towards it. Not to mention, Kaiju also promises some Lovecraftian influences as wel. That being said, even if you’re not a fan of tokusatsu,Kaiju fims, or Lovecraftian mythology – you’re absolutely going to just love this EP for the fact that it is… well, its good.
Without a doubt, DISSENTIENCE channeled the power of an entire album into these four tracks. Obsidian Tomb is, alone, enough to warrant a listen as its probably the best of the four. It highlights just what this band is capable of. One moment your being swept up in a slow but powerful intro, only to be pelted by some extremely skillful thrash-meddlings, and hit by a extremely well death-metal influenced chorus that blends in some excellent use of layered vocals.
Did I mention they have that ‘progressive’ label before the ‘thrash’ one? No? Well, despite my dislike towards the term, and I’m not too sure its the right word on Kaiju, I have to say they do really mix things up. Thrash is great, but it can get old after a while. That is, especially when you’re over thirty, you don’t feel fully awake until its well past noon anymore, and a thousand notes being fed to you rapidly feels like a nailgun being fired into your skull. DISSENTIENCE apparently caught onto this and decided to break up those hearty thrash verses with some surprises those familiar with the ‘prog metal’ scene will known through and through. You know, irregular timings and all.
To be honest, I’ve not heard DISSENTIENCE before. I think Kaiju is going to change that. As, if this EP is any indication of what the band is capable of, their 2022 album Empire Anatomy, is going to be one hell of an experience. Here is hoping that a full album exploring similar themes follows this EP.
-KEITH HAM-
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