There are any number of contemporary releases which can be described as combining the essentials of metal and jazz forming a mathematically taut series of compositions which showcase the participant’s musical skill whilst failing to infuse the music with a soul. Test Of Submission is the sixth full length release from Brooklyn’s Kevin Hufnagel, Colin Marston and Jeff Eber, and despite being packed tight with instrumentally complex and challenging pieces, is not without spirit and confidence at its core.
Opening with the frenzied ‘In Secrecy’ Dysrhythmia lay all their cards resolutely on the table from the outset, this will be the beginning of an exuberant journey. Each individual instrument is contorted into any number of geometric shapes, but the whole is somehow held together. A piece such as ‘Running Towards the End’ is not only exhilarating to listen to with its buoyant riff, crooked time signatures and playful interjections, but it has the essential personality. ‘In the Spirit of Catastrophe’ contains all these elements and yet somehow pushes the boundaries that bit further. ‘Like Chameleons’ combines technicality with drilling percussion that possibly produces one of the most electrifying essentials to “Test of Submission”. ‘The Line Always Snaps’ soars majestically with regal chord progressions and towering lead lines.
The shortage of a voice within these compositions is somehow forgotten amongst the bewildering array of tempo changes and tangential lines. The title track ‘Test of Submission’ is hammered down with invigorating guitar and bass parts riding regally over the crest of the percussion. The closing, and lengthiest track, ‘In Consequence’ builds slowly in the distance before abruptly pushing any sentimental thoughts aside with a series of crushingly technical progressions interspersed with flashes of its melancholic beginnings...
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