Review by Greg on September 22, 2025.

In the world there are some things one can always find room for, and killer tech-death/thrash bands with sci-fi/technology themes are always a welcome addition to the list. The latest entry sure to turn a few heads is Dissimulator from Quebec, Canada, with their debut Lower Form Resistance that hit the shelves in the dawn of 2024, although it might be noted that we're hardly talking about a bunch of nobodies – the entire lineup is no less than the backing band of Phil Tougas in Chthe'ilist, and the three members can count appearances with Beyond Creation, First Fragment, other tech death acts I do not particularly care about, along with admittedly all kinds of tangent stuff, from black metal to funeral doom. Thrash, interestingly, was still missing from their CVs until now, but it's safe to say we're not getting any uninspiring Exodus or Slayer retread, luckily. Let's hear how they put their own spin on it, then.

So, by means of banal country associations, you might think throwing Voivod into the conversation would be a no-brainer, and yet, despite the artwork looking like Nothingface re-imagined in a surreal photographic style, Dissimulator's main feature is rather Claude Leduc's angular, off-kilter riffage which might make Obliveon or early Cynic spring to mind, however without the same fervent interest in jazzy detours. It's worth mentioning so early in the review because there must be about one billion killer riffs waiting for you at almost every corner, to the point one is likely to lose count of them, permeated with a strong mechanical vibe reprised also in the mercifully unpolished, early '90s-sounding production (easily what made me breathe the biggest sigh of relief, given the guys' portfolio and parallel projects), matching the intricate and often unorthodox chord progressions... it's been a long time since I'd been comparably impressed by the rhythm guitars alone as I am here. Of course, Antoine Daigneault on the almost equally busy, but never intrusive, bass and especially Philippe Boucher's hyperactive, tentacular drumming make up maybe the ideal rhythm section, even claiming the spotlight every now and then.

The one-two punch of 'Neural Hack'-'Warped' leaves little room for complaints as well, an explosive couple meant to highlight the less visionary, but still vertiginous and clinical, facet of Lower Form Resistance, also reprised towards the end with later loose cannon 'Hyperline Underflow'. The central part is where the three guys let it all out and offer a more accurate representation of what they're trying to achieve: 'Outer Phase' is probably the middle highlight with its eerie, almost industrial-sounding spoken French intro and thundering midtempo part before returning to the onslaught, but the same could be said for 'Cybermorphism / Mainframe', which can count on an immersive clean melodic intro, too. But really just about every track is conceived with the same vision in mind, and goddamn it Boucher is such an absolute, jaw-dropping wonder to hear thoughout the whole album. Impressively tight and creative at each and every tempo he disarmingly switches to, always keeping a perfectly natural and organic feel, in no small part thanks to the analog production. I'm not gonna enumerate my complete list of highlights of his performance, which would arguably end up being longer than the whole review, but I really can't stop being amazed by everything he creates on 'Cybermorphism / Mainframe', to the point that I'd be content with hearing his drum track alone, or the final crescendo in the title-track, above all. Obviously, shoulder to shoulder with the razor-sharp rifforama.

Downsides are few and far between throughout this clinical landscape, but nevertheless not absent. Ironically enough, after such drooling praise given to the rhythm guitar, leads usually take a back seat, and are even absent altogether in some tracks. Don't get me wrong, a cavalcade of riffs with this quality level isn't something you see every day (far from it actually), and Dissimulator clearly know how much they can be exploited without running them into the ground, or switching to another too soon for that matter, but I can't deny I end up feeling this absence every once in a while. On the upside, if you ever found yourself listening to, say, Spawn of Possession and thinking, 'well, it would be great, if it weren't for these endless stop-start patterns and lead flourishes playing along with the music', well, Lower Form Resistance is surely going to be the album for you, being at the opposite end of that spectrum – think of an hypothetical blue-collar counterpart to Noctambulant and you're not that far off.

More cynically speaking, all the tracks exceeding 6 minutes (especially 'Automoil & Robotoil') sooner or later seem to come to a point where they stall a bit, if you're not paying enough attention. Lyrics don't offer any lifeline to cling on to, being naturally understandable only with the aid of a master's degree in astrophysics...

Mandelbrot non-forms ablaze within the mainframe
Effluvia from deafening silicon accretions
Screening endless volleys, braided assemblage
Like swarms of avatars subsisting on a star
Desiccant souls in searing light exposed
Moths to the raging inferno of the binary

Leduc provides also vocals, which consist of a cavernous, strong growl 90% of the time, yet are likely to surprise you when they deviate from the norm, as the man usually employs a vocoder, of all things, in those moments, reinforcing the Cynic comparison above. An idiosyncratic, if totally in line with the aesthetics of the decade, choice that didn't exactly win me over, but it's probably since I fail to see its appeal altogether, so I'm confident it's gotta have its fans. Oh, and a couple of tracks, mainly the almost instrumental closer and title-track, even feature clean vocals that sound performed by one of the guys in Mastodon – strangely enough a more fitting choice, although they do feel enigmatic in their fleeting 'Automoil & Robotoil' appearance, however, cementing the track's position as the weirdest episode overall.

Trying to imbue this collection of thoughts with some long-needed order, Lower Form Resistance indisputably stands as one of the coolest collections of riffs I've heard in 2024 (and then some), and yet, several listens deep into it, I still can't help but think Dissimulator have a potential future masterpiece up their sleeves. I'll stay tuned, but in the meantime, there's some awesome stuff here that deserves repeated spins.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Benjamin on February 7, 2024.

There are some artists that are lucky enough to be world-class operators within one sub-genre of metal. An even smaller subset of that group can stretch their talents across multiple sub-genres, without all of their bands simply converging on a similar sound, able to compartmentalise their output without compromising their vision. Dissimulator are the new band from Chthe’ilist and Atramentus members Antoine Daignault and Claude Leduc, the former of whom also played in Worm for a time. Impressively, they are the equal of these phenomenal acts, without sounding anything like them. Dissimulator’s chosen form of metal is a furious take on technical thrash – Vektor with the lysergic psychedelic edge replaced by a biomechanical concept - and their debut, Lower Form Resistance manages to achieve what many bands in the genre grapple with, but fail to master, creating music that is a catchy and memorable as it is warped, with the many, many spectacular riffs moving the body as well as the brain. 

Without being exactly a throwback, Dissimulator unselfconsciously celebrate a form of metal that evokes serious nostalgia in anyone that bemoans the lack of weird progressive thrash and tech-death of the type that seemed to abound during a short stretch of the early 1990s. The way in which tracks such as ‘Automoil & Robotoil’, and the sensational title-track that closes the album combine chunky low-E chugging with dizzying flurries of fleet-fingered modal runs and stabs of jazzy dissonance cannot help but recall Voivod, Coroner and Atheist, all bands there were able to wrest a strange accessibility and warped melodic sensibility from music that could so easily become annoyingly impenetrable. Indeed, the most appealing aspect of Dissimulator’s debut is the way in way the bands technical flair at no point becomes the dominating element of their attack, with the visceral thrill and excitement of thrash sacrificed at the altar of self-indulgent experimentation. While the progressive technicality is at the heart of what Dissimulator do, rather than added as an adornment, the band’s ability to integrate this into exhilarating, rampaging metal compounds the effect, rather than detracts from it. It is quite the trick, and one that betrays the almost embarrassing levels of talent present in the Canadians’ ranks. 

Highlights abound across a consistently magnificent album. The frenzied thrash of the brilliant ‘Neural Hack’ is the perfect opener, a whirlwind of Voivodian madness that accesses the sweet spot between heart and head, immediately generating the sense that Lower Form Resistance will be a special album indeed. This sense is heightened, when the processed clean vocals of ‘Warped’ float amorphously over the gloriously disjointed syncopation of the band’s riffage, what is surely a knowing tribute to Cynic’s "Focus", the listener delights in their mutual recognition of one of technical metal’s greatest bands, although the song itself moves far beyond mere pastiche. ‘Outer Phase’ again features the Cynic-style vocal sounds, but what really stands out here is a phenomenal drum track from Philippe Boucher – Dissimulator are a band that absolutely understand how changing the feel of the beat below the guitars can bring progression and development to the song – and Boucher’s punishing performance creates a compelling push-and-pull tension between the various musicians, as if each one is attempting to pull the music in their direction, only to be restrained by the others, the result being a kind of restless magic that commands the listener’s attention, and demands their fealty. Finally, the most jaw-dropping exhibition of the band’s ability to craft busy, but memorable, riffs is the incredible ‘Cybermorphism / Mainframe’, which adds a tremolo-ridden death metal intensity at times that is reminiscent of Chile’s Ripper, but also moves through classic Bay Area mosh riffs and discordant progressions littered with pinch harmonics, the whole thing underpinned by subtle keyboards that raise the spectre of Nocturnus in a way that very few bands do in 2024. An eight-minute epic that moves past at what feels like twice the speed, the track displaying the full breadth of Dissimulator’s immense capabilities, and hearts and minds explode in response. It would be disingenuous to suggest that Lower Form Resistance is groundbreaking – there is originality here, but one must accept that Dissimulator are operating just inside wide, but previously established boundaries. What they do offer though, is an almost flawless, and ingeniously addictive take on technical thrash, which breathes new life into a niche sub-genre, and immediately places the band within the exalted company that they clearly revere.

Rating: 9.3 out of 10