Ion Dissonance

Montreal metal purists Ion Dissonance are in the throes of the recording process, with guitarist Antoine Lussier producing the new album, due in early summer. The band admits that the new platter will be more refined while retaining their signature mathematical precision. Some of the pickier fans the band picked up after 'Breathing Is Irrelevant' and 'Solace' thumbed their noses at Ion Dissonance's last album, 'Minus the Herd,' rendering it too basic for such a technically-proficient band.

"Not all our fans complained," vocalist Kevin told Noisecreep. "In fact, only a few die-hard fans of 'BII' and 'Solace' thought 'Minus the Herd' was too simplistic. When the album dropped in the summer of 2007, I guess those die-hard fans perceived the album as the end of technical Ion Dissonance albums and the beginning of the band selling out to a more mainstream crowd."

Needless to say, selling out is the most dreaded phrase in the underground music scene. It's damn near impossible (and implausible) for a band like Ion Dissonance to go that route. But at the end of the day, they also need to evolve, progress and pleasure themselves on the musical level. "'Minus the Herd' brought about many new young fans who were into our heavy, low-tuned sound. I guess you could say we lost a few fans along the way, but gained many new ones.

"That's part of the game, though. You can't please everyone all the time," Kevin also said. "We were playing to both metalheads and hardcore kids, which made for violent shows. We got a rush out of seeing so many kids lose their s--- while we played. At that time, we wanted to give fans an album which would take our live show to a new level."

The 'elitist' fans weren't exactly vicious about their displeasure with 'MTH.' They were just a vocal minority. "I believe no matter which band you play in, you're bound to get negative comments," Kevin said. "I can't say anyone has gone out of their way to express their disappointment for 'Minus the Herd.' There were only a minority of fans who didn't like 'Minus the Herd' compared to the others. However, many new Ion fans consider it to be the best Ion Dissonance album so far. In fact, there are more than you would think."

The band didn't engage in message board chatter regarding those who were critical, either. "We never went online to try and contradict anyone on their opinion of our band. To be quite honest, we really could care less," Kevin said. "We want to make music that will please as many people as possible, but the most important part is that we like what we play. If you don't like what we do, and want to make it known on the Internet, that's your thing. People who hide behind their screens, b----ing out bands that work hard and do their best to make a name for themselves are hypocrites. If you don't like what we or any other band plays, go out and try to make better music yourself. We'll see if your so-called 'talented' band gets trashed afterward."

But that's enough about what turns out to not have been a really big deal in Ion Dissonance's world. There is a task at hand, and it's the new album. "Trust me," Kevin said. "We are going to turn heads and make sure everyone realizes that this new effort is our best work to date."

For this future masterwork, the band is balancing what they want to do with what the fans have come to love about them. "With today's music scene, you don't have much of a choice to give fans what they want in order to be able to maintain a decent fan base, a label and to keep coming out with new material," Kevin said. "This new record is all about incorporating elements of our previous work and finding, as you say, a way to 'balance' everything out. We wanted every song to be different than the last. We wanted to come out with something new and something that hasn't been copied or done over 500 times before, like many bands have a tendency to do lately. Our goal is to stand apart."

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