ION DISSONANCE - SOLACE published December 2005, Zero Magazine

The all too familiar heartbreak. We've all encountered it. A band debuts, you love them, you follow them, they come out with the second album, you're stoked, you hear it…it sucks.

If Ion Dissonance gave you extremely high expectations with 2003's Breathing is Irrelevant, they have been shattered albeit in a slightly unconventional way. Usually, the sophomore rule of thumb is that the first album is raw energy un-harnessed and the following album is that energy further explored, now polished and organized which in most cases results in a less moving product. Yet here, Solace carries the same dynamic presence which lacks no dimension or structure and instead is missing…what? You don't know. You'll get halfway through the album before it finally hits you that this band used to be a whole lot more colorful. It seems simple enough but it's easy to take for granted how pitch and tone can lift and plummet your spirits as if they are merely riding the wavelengths.

The one comforting thing about sophomore syndrome is that some bands escape falling into this new direction, realize they had a great sound before they tried to improve on it, rediscover that sound and go on to make better records. So, Ion Dissonance isn't worth giving up on just yet.