Progressive rock, technical death metal, hardcore thrash, indie rock, avant jazz, and ambient mesmerism are intricately and inseparably combined in the riff-heavy, mathy, high-energy, instrumental attack of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Dysrhythmia. Guitarist Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Sabbath Assembly) and drummer Jeff Eber have been together since 1998; bassist/producer/engineer Colin Marston (Behold...The Arctopus, Krallice) has been aboard since 2004. From the beginning, this band set out to be different from the hordes on the death and technical metal scenes emerging at the turn of the century. By the time they issued their second album, 2001's No Interference, with its mathy, funky interludes, they were already delighting fans in their native Philadelphia and confounding music critics. With 2004's Barriers and Passages, the first album to feature Marston, their live shows had won over virtually all confounded listeners, while critics embraced them as part of instrumental metal's renaissance. It was 2009's Psychic Maps, however, with its waves of noise, atonality, hyperspeed drumming, and impossibly knotty riffs that established them as a metal institution and made them a global concert attraction. By the time they issued 2016's The Veil of Control, their eighth full-length, they had become one of the most influential metal bands on the planet. Formed in March 1998, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dysrhythmia is the vision of guitarist Kevin Hufnagel and bassist Clayton Ingerson, a former music major at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Friends since high school, they worked together in the mid-'90s as members of Grey Division Blue. Although they separated for a couple of years, Hufnagel and Ingerson reunited in 1998 to work on an all-instrumental project that was "heavier, more progressive and diverse" than their previous efforts. With the recruitment of drummer Jeff Eber six months later, their lineup was solidified. Released in 2000, Dysrhythmia's debut album, Contradiction, was recorded in four days in a friend's basement studio. In addition to releasing their second album, No Interference, in 2001, they split a 10" single, "Annihilation," with free jazz/metal band Xthoughtstreamsx. Their third album, Pretest, followed in May 2003. Ingerson left the following year and was replaced by Hufnagel's partner in Byla, Colin Marston (Behold...The Arctopus, Gorguts, Encenathrakh, Krallice). Their first release with their new bassist was Barriers and Passages in May 2006, followed by intensive touring through the rest of the year and into 2007. Near the year's end, they issued a split with Rothko entitled Fractures on Acerbic Noise Development. Marston spent most of 2008 recording and touring with Behold...The Arctopus and others; Hufnagel released his debut solo album, Songs for the Disappeared. The pair also joined Canadian tech-death band Gorguts. Dysrhythmia re-emerged late the following year with the full-length Psychic Maps, produced and engineered by Marston. In the new year, a U.S. tour was followed by their first European dates. While Marston and Hufnagel remained busy with other projects, Dysrhythmia signed to Profound Lore, and in the spring of 2012 began recording Test of Submission with Luc Lemay; it was released in August followed by intensive touring on both sides of the Atlantic. Hufnagel's and Marston's other activities resulted in recordings and tours with other bands for the next three years. When Dysrhythmia finally did record again, they brought Lemay back for their Profound Lore follow-up. Cut in the early spring of 2016, The Veil of Control was issued in September. After headlining and playing festivals for the better part of two years, Dysrhythmia took a well-deserved break so its members could indulge their other projects. When they came back together, they decided to switch things up in pursuit of creating true 21st century "futurist progressive metal." It was initially a daunting task: In an interview, Hufnagel admitted that in the writing and pre-production processes, he sincerely wondered if he had anything left to say. Marston brought the first track into the studio and it spurred Hufnagel's inspiration. For the first time, Marston played second guitar on three tracks ("Nuclear Twilight," "Power Symmetry," and "Twin Stalkers") while Hufnagel played bass, creating space for different dynamics and textures. The finished album, entitled Terminal Threshold, was issued by Translation Lost in early October of 2019. ~ Craig Harris