Third Ion – “Packing Heat From the Sun” with newest record, Biolith

There are those in the world that love to put bands into cute little compartment genres. I constantly hear “this band is metalcore, or progressive black metal, or grindcore with a sprinkling of deathcore”. The one I love the most is “doom-pop”, what the fuck is “doom-pop”. I tell you what it is…. It’s fucking awesome.

All my old man griping aside, it just takes too much energy to try to box something up that is meant to be so free, but that is the human tendency… So, when a band like the extremely talented and underrated Third Ion comes around, I love to ask fans “what genre do they belong to”, because I will never get the same answer. So it goes…..

Third Ion’s Biolith has literally been the only thing I have been listening to for the past week. The band are crack musicians, can change course faster than birds in the sky, melding g-force time signature changes with jazz-like precision. The band hails from Canada, and offers a style that could be the soundtrack for an expedition across the frozen tundra in the dead of winter, albeit with some biotech to fight off the flying ice monsters, in an effort to save the world… or something like that.

Guitarist Justin Bender bends the sound of his guitar to open portals in a magician like stance: check the album’s lead track, and 9 minute opus “State of Flux”. Lead vocalist, Dave Padden, brought his pipes over from legendary thrash metal band Annihilator to provide added depth to the mathematic crunch the band serves up. Bassist, Mike Young and Drummer, Aaron Edger keep the beat as grounded as possible within the fractal of sound the band generates. There is a yin and yang to each one of the 8 songs on the record. For every palm-muted metallic crunch, there is an atmosphere-driven landscape, check the push and pull of “Status Undetermined”. The most radio-friendly song on the record, if you can call it that, “Illogical” offers poignant lyrics and a driving beat that rivals any Avenged Sevenfold track.

Biolith is a challenging listen and asks for undivided attention, this is not background music, not driving music, but music that constantly changes based on the listener’s perception, with a wizard-like, pinpoint, precision icepick to the  cerebellum.

Check out the video for “Cosmic Delusion” below: