The consequence of the self is something alarming, intrinsic, and terrifying all within the same space of time, and for individuals such as TREVOR GOINS, such is a call for something more, and something greater-borrowing from the themes of transcendentalism CATHEDRALS FALL was formed and has now materialized its debut, Harmonic Dissidence.

The album opens with the title tracks of all things, a singular instrumental sounding as knell more than anything entitled, "Harmonic Dissidence," which features an assault of deep rung bells, reminding me of the coda from 1812 OVERTURE. The first track to feature the whole of the instruments is, "Brick By Brick," which commences with a sort of start-stop quick progression before changing into a modulation that becomes the main riff; just as its predecessor this song also finishes on a bell. "How Far We Fall" tells a story similar to Shelly's Ozymandias, about the grandeur of human endeavor and their fleeting acts of having their hubris outlive their lives only for decay to set in and obsolescence fill the void unto oblivion. "Welcome To Reality" is a polemical piece which attempts disillusioned speech over an fast thrashing progression then ending on a somewhat Egyptian theme, further giving credence to the Ozymandias reference in the track preceding this. "Saying Goodbye To A Good Friend" starts as an acoustic piece, somber by name alone the track evolves into a bittersweet overdriven nocturne. "We Are Blood" begins sounding as a Speed Metal kind of composition-though the drums quickly deny this thought-before evolving into a chanting kind of song; the song reminds me of the old saying "Blood is thicker than water," referring to opting for familial ties over close acquaintances. "Split" is a song which tells the story of multiple personalities using harmonies to further illustrate this-the song ends suddenly and rapidly and a repeating of the words "resist" making it an odd and striking way to end an album.

The instrumentation is an interesting topic in reference to the album as GOINS did everything himself which only draws attention to his ingenuity. The guitars are very well performed and panned to a good balance, though do come off as a bit tinny sometimes. The bass is one of the best parts of the album being something of an unhindered beast as it completely fills out the bottom end, supports the rest of the band, and constantly drives every progression forward with its overdriven delivery. The drums are an EZdrummer rendering from Toontrack, not a lot to be said there save for the fact that the mixing was good. The vocals stand out, though perhaps for the wrong reason, TREVOR GOINS, has before named himself no trained vocalist though I believe the most off-putting part of the vocals are the mixing much more so than the actual performance. The vocals rest slightly panned to the left channel drawing focus away from the center of the mix where every other instrument meets up which throws the listener off and feels a bit uncomfortable listening to the whole of the album in one sitting as you never really get used to such placement.

Cathedrals Fall, is an impressive collection of music which, much more impressively, was all written and recorded by one individual with his collection of gear and a single computer. For anyone with a penchant towards Heavy, Thrash, or Groove the tracks will be up their ally.