Consonance

Live performance:**** Times Seen:4

Album Rating:Autonomia-9.4

Genre 1:Progressive Metal

Genre 2:Post-metal

Genre 3:Progressive Metalcore/Deathcore

For Fans Of:Between The Buried & Me, Cryptodira, The Contortionist, Coheed & Cambria, Cynic, Last Chance To Reason, catchy musicanship, PROG, and Smash Bros. (The game)

Formed In:2014

Status:Releasing their debut EP Autonomia on: December 21st

-Discography Review-

The debut EP from Consonance has been in the works for an entire year, maybe longer. Many friends of the band such as myself have been waiting on the edges of their seats to hear this release. Seeings these songs live time and time again, you really get a feel for which ones you like the best. (Pretty much all four) However, knowing the songs only from seeing them live always leaves the crowd to guess how it’s going to sound on the CD. Well I got some good news, let me stop you from worrying right now. Nick Shann who plays bass in the band did an amazing job making this EP sound awesome in every way. The recording quality is exactly what you should expect from a professional band in 2015, and the fact that Consonance could achieve this on their debut is phenomenal and a sure sign of great things to come!

The EP starts off with “Wax Caskets” which was released as a single earlier this year. I personally handed out the samplers at one show, and I can personally attest to how many people who saw the band for the first time were bummed out that it was only a one track sampler. They needed the prog, and they needed it now. “Wax Caskets” is a great introduction to Autonomia and Consonance themselves. It’s got little tastes of all of their best qualities in one song. From start to finish this song rules. Catchy riffs are reminiscent of The Contortionist, a slammin’ prog Interlude mid-song that’ll remind you of BTBAM or Cryptodira and great piano and bass that tie all the moving parts together. When I first heard “Wax Caskets” I also felt there were distinct similarities between Dylan’s vocals and Scott from Cryptodira. Next up is a cool and creepy Interlude track by the name of “The Burning Wick” that sets up the prog tone and is a great bridge into my favorite song “The Spectral Hand”. The interlude reminds me of a sped up version of the outro for “The Sweetest Curse” by Baroness. Track 3 or “Spectral Hand” is said to be a reference to Smash Bros character Master Hand by vocalist Dylan Barone, although this fact is heavily disputed by guitarist Rich Castillo. It starts off directly where “The Burning Wick” left off, making the EP feel fluid and consistent. This song is wonky and weird in a very BTBAM way, but Consonance definitely shows off their originality in this one for sure. This song also has a heavy breakdown with a build up that you’ll be looking forward to every time you see them live. The final track is called “Reverse Engineered Perspective” Consonance is telling you they are the local version of BTBAM and they want you to know it. I love the riffs in this EP, but the ones in “Reverse Engineered Perspective” are my favorite. The ending is a climactic finish to the long awaited Autonomia.

-Live Review-

Consonance is a hard working band that gets things done. The heart and passion they put into writing their music is thoroughly utilized in their live shows. Consonance uses an excellent influx of beautiful prog and heavy breakdowns backed by impressive instrumentation. The quintet plays hard, respectable music that will keep your head banging. You’ll want to memorize the lyrics and then shout them at Dylan Barone’s face. But watchout for Rich on the way up, he’ll be swinging his guitar like a broadsword. And don’t forget to look at Nick and Mike as they try to hold in their smiles while playing. And who could forget Justin and his hilarious facial expressions he makes while playing complicated and technical beats. The band’s ambition is clearly seen when analyzing the hardships they have overcame; finding a complete line up came a piece at a time with the most recent addition being Nick Shann on bass. Consonance also has had trouble with finding a consistent practice space, and finally with the release date of this EP, however that has only increased local anticipation for it. It is very much so, worth the wait. This band cannot be stopped.

Consonance has killed it live every single time I see them. They’ve also covered “Aerials” by System of A Down and nailed it. The heavy beauty of this song remains. Fusing a Consonance type vibe with System fits perfectly together, you might almost think it was an original song by them. Consonance has never disappointed and now that their EP is out, I’m already stoked to see what else they have in store for us. This band is going places, and you’d be wise to follow them. You can do follow them to these places, with the links below! - Mike Clark

Consonance – Autonomia EP
Release date: December 21st, 2015
Genre: Prog-metal
Record label: Unsigned
Review by: Shannah@thesirenslounge.com

Consonance is a progressive metal band hailing from Long Island, NY. Some of their influences include Between the Buried and Me, Coheed and Cambria with a hint of Panic! At The Disco. On the Autonomia EP, their influences show quite a bit when they take progressive metal and sprinkle an eclectic sound throughout.

The first track “Wax Caskets” has a decent intro but the lower vocals in the beginning are a bit off in my opinion. His higher notes that you hear in other parts of the EP are more solidified and less off-tune. With that being said, there’s a bit of a nostalgic sound on this track and I like the change of pace toward the middle of the song quite a bit with the combination of the contagious riff and the piano melody. I have to admit that 3:20 to 3:40 reminds me ever so slightly of The Venetia Fair despite starting off as two different genres.

I do enjoy the cohesiveness when it comes to the instrumentation on the album. I like that “The Burning Wick” serves as an intermission on the EP, but it’s oddly placed, as there are only four songs and two are over 7 minutes without anything breaking up the two. While “The Burning Wick” has a catchy melody, it’s a bit overplayed in the last minute, especially when the next song has a quite similar intro riff but not quite.

The addition of the Saxophone in “The Spectral Hand” gives the EP a touch of Consonance that I think people enjoy. The saxophone element within this song works out pretty well in my opinion and adds their own spice to it. “The Spectral Hand” has quite a few different genres and the song is a tad long. With the different genres explored, I feel as if it could have been split up into different songs. That being said, this is my favorite track on the EP hands down.
Overall, I give Autonomia a solid 3 out of 5. It’s a great start for the band and I enjoyed the route they took. They aren’t cookie cutter and they experiment quite a bit. I feel like the beginning track, ‘Wax Caskets” doesn’t do the rest of the EP justice as an opener since “The Spectral Hand” and “Reverse Engineered Perspective” seem more mature and solid than “Wax Caskets”. I personally would love to hear from more Consonance in the future and see how they develop their sound. - The Siren's Lounge