Decahedron

Disconnection_Imminent (Lovitt)
by Tim Den

The artists formerly known as The Black Sea (copyright infringment’s a bitch) couldn’t have chosen a better new moniker. Decahedron, featuring two ex-members of Frodus and Joe Lally from Fugazi, have morphed into a razor-edged, chisel-sharp slicing machine miles away from their former, gloom-and-despair identity. Where as The Black Sea also displayed their fondness for DC punk-funk staccoisms, they had an omninous, dreary side as well that conjured up bleak winter nights. Not so with Decahedron, who must’ve gotten mighty pissed during the name change and decided to wail mercilessly upon their instruments. Most of Disconnection_Imminent flails its geometrical limbs in odd time signatures, wire-y guitar licks, accentuated bass lines, overall sounding like mathematicians bent out of shape about political and technological issues (take a look at the cover art and the song titles: “Delete False Culture,” “Dislocation,” “At the Corner of Schuylkill and Wyaconda,” etc.). Only on “Pay No Mind” does The Black Sea’s creepy-crawliness show up just a tiny bit.

Not that Decahedron’s all the worse for not having ghostly seances, it just would’ve been nice to see/hear what territories the band could’ve explored had they not put all their formulas into the mathrock basket. All in all, if you’re looking for bad ass, dissonant post-punk with that trademark DC angularity, look no further.
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