DYSENTERY – Dejection Chrysalis

vote
6.5

• Bands:
  DYSENTERY
• Duration: 00:28:56
• Available from: 07/11/2025
• Label:

• Comatose Music

Streaming not yet available

Ten years after the previous “Fragments”, Dysentery return to the scene with a new full-length, “Dejection Chrysalis”, reaffirming without hesitation their devotion to one of the fattest and most primitive USA-style death metals. In short, the American band does not betray its roots, placing itself in that border area between pure slam and the grooviest New York tradition, inevitably evoking, in the latter case, names like Internal Bleeding and Skinless, but with an even more monolithic attitude which, on balance, often looks to the Texans Devourment as an absolute model.

The album, from the first minutes, presents itself as a declaration of intent: zero compromises, few nuances, no frills. Everything is built around square structures, pachydermal breakdowns and tight passages that alternate in a clear, almost brutal way, with the most ignorant cadences. If in the past Dysentery managed to insert more varied solutions and moments of connection that gave breathing space to the guitar fabric, here the game appears reduced to the bare bones: frontal impact and constant search for heaviness as the primary objective, with a production in step with the times that underlines this ultra heavy vein more than ever.

The result is a work that tends to sacrifice a part of inventiveness in terms of riffing: the guitars are in fact less ingenious, less inclined to seek rhythmic variations and more inclined to build walls of sound that fall inexorably on the listener. In this sense, “Dejection Chrysalis” undoubtedly accentuates the 'cave-like' dimension that already existed in previous works, but here taken to the extreme, to the point of appearing almost programmatically limited.

Having said that, the album does not lack strong points: the short duration of the songs prevents the formula from lapsing into tedium, and the obsession with the descent into the most massive breakdowns ends up having its own cathartic charm. Naturally, it is music that does not intend to surprise or amaze with technical subtleties, but which knows how to hit you in the gut with force, when the guitar manages to find the right tune.

Overall, “Dejection Chrysalis” is therefore a roughly faithful return to Dysentery's aesthetics, even if the development of the pieces appears slightly less rich than what the band had been able to offer in the past. The long gestation of the album did not produce a particularly varied repertoire, and indeed seems to have distilled the sound of the group into its most elementary and obsessive form. Whether this will be perceived as a limitation or as an advantage depends a lot on expectations: those looking for dynamics and nuances will probably remain dissatisfied, while those who just want a rush of unfiltered ignorance will find what they want.
In short, not an album that stimulates long-term attention, but a work that finds meaning in immediacy and repetition, like a sonic ritual that lives on its own obtuseness.