Ohhhhh yeeeeaaah, a band named after a movement disorder \m/ Hailing from Greece, Tardive Dyskenisia are a progressive metal juggernaut to watch out for. The band is currently gearing up to officially release their third full-length studio album “Static Apathy In Fast Forward” on November 12th. However, Metal Hammer Greece is currently streaming the entire album so I decided to jump the gun, listen, and write a review. Glad I did because this album feels great in my ears. You can listen here to see what I mean (the stream may be removed in the future, so get on that!).
Tardive Dyskenisia’s sounds like a mix between Textures and Meshuggah while having a creative, driving force of it’s own. This combination of sounds yields some really great results. Expect polyrhythmical goodness from start to finish. These are some groovy dudes! Instrumentally, everything is great. The band has displays an interesting use of background ambiance. The vocals provided by the frontman, Manthos, are interesting too as they branch between screamed vocals and his own brand of harsh singing with plenty of layering. The production and presentation of the album are also solid.
Every song has something great going on. “Empty Frames” kicks things off in a big way. It gives you a huge hint to expect big scale and grooves on this record. Easily one of my favorites on “Static Apathy In Fast Forward”. “The Chase Home” has such a great pattern towards the beginning. Certainly a rhythmically focused track but with plenty of creativity to break things up. It ends with one of the heaviest segments on the record. “Smells Like Fraud”… yeah, make sure to listen. The large scale of “Time Turns Planets” really stands out. It’s a super groovy track. “Prehistoric Man” has an interesting guitar solo towards the second half of the song which leads into an awesome melodic section. Another favorite on this album for sure. Featuring some nice saxophone work, “Indicator” makes for a great, out of the box interlude to break things up. “Circling Around the Unknown” opens with a quick winding guitar before it moves into rhythmic splendor. A wonderful melodic progression carries out the second half of the song. This might be my favorite track on the whole record. “We, The Cancer” is a driving commentary on the expanding population of humans and the limited resources of the planet. Towards the end, the song fades out until you think it’s over, only to come back twice as powerful. Good stuff. “Failed Document” is one of the shortest, but most intense tracks on the record. It comes off as a powerful rhythmic exercise. “Limiting The Universe” is last but certainly not least. It opens with a bit of a dissonant build and closes out the album out with ambient beauty.
This album isn’t perfect. While largely a great effort, some parts may strike the listener as lacking in energy and variety. Certain segments may sound the same, even if they obviously aren’t with closer examination. The band is very rhythmically focused and it may lose some people. Though personally I like it a lot… if you honestly can’t tell by now.
To sum things up, Tardive Dyskenisia did a fine job constructing “Static Apathy In Fast Forward”. This album is worth your time and money. Your ears will thank you. As stated before, the album is streaming so take advantage of that! We also have some tracks above for your listening pleasure (and in case the stream is removed). If you dig Tardive Dyskenisia and want to grab a pre-order, look no further. Instead, look right here.
