At first listen, Dissonant Sea seems to be more of the same from Auternus: down-tuned, droning guitar and a steady pulse from the rhythm section. On the band's previous Changing Seasons, the music was all build and no jam. This time, though, Auternus marches toward climax — especially on the songs with vocals ("Empty Heavens," "Old Me"), which also work with traditional verse-chorus-verse song structures — but not before the title track and its follow-up, "Bipolar," lead off the album in a meandering, exploratory vein, with discordant piano chords echoing behind a blast of guitar. If Auternus could find a way to marry its experimental impulses with the cathartic release of its vocal numbers, the band would blow the roof off any room it played, to say nothing of your stereo.
