Dyssidia - 2025 - Deeper Wells Of Meaning

(44:41; Wild Thing Records)

This is the first time I have come across Adelaide’s Dyssidia, who have been releasing material for more than a decade, and here have returned with their second album, five years after their debut, ‘Costly Signals’. The band are a quartet, Corey Davis (guitars), Neil Palmer (bass), Mitch Brackman (vocals) and Liam Weedall (drums): there are also keyboards on this release which are important to the overall sound, but I have no idea who provides these. What we have is hard-hitting technical progressive metal which is bringing in a great deal of influences and extremes and there is no doubt they have been listening a great deal to TessaracT, while one can only wonder how much impact co-producer Sam Vallen (Caligula’s Horse) had on the final sound. There is also no doubt to my ears that they have also been paying close attention to Protest the Hero, as Mitch has the ability to sing or growl with a huge range, similar in many ways to Rody Walker, while they have plenty of mathcore and djent styles in what they are producing. I have been a huge fan of the mad Canucks for many years, still grateful that they are one of the few bands who can find New Zealand on a map, so for me this is high praise indeed.

There is plenty of contrast, and they slow it down at times, but that is only so they can return ever harder and faster, with incredible note density and strange counterpoints and contra rhythms mixing with weird time signatures, yet while the maelstrom can be kicking ass, Mitch can be pleasant and melodic at the front, or the reverse can be true as well. This never sounds like an Australian band on a small label who are relatively unknown outside a small circle but instead sounds as if they are coming to us straight from America or Europe and are signed with Nuclear Blast or Napalm. Dynamic, with crunch designed to shatter the noggin, this is quite some album. I can only hope that at some point soon they decide to cross over the Tasman, as this is prog metal (with the emphasis equally on both words) with real presence.  

Kev Rowland, February 2026

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/dyssidiaband
https://wildthingrecords.com/