Review: Locked Out, Dissociation

Locked Out - Dissociation
Score: 7.6/10

Album releases on August 3rd, 2018
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Connecticut has never been shy about introducing brutal and impressively intense metalcore acts into the world and today is your introduction to Locked Out, who, with their debut release Dissociation, are not strangers to groovy riffs and extreme vocals, coining for themselves the genre of “slamming metalcore.”

Dissociation is close to bands like Bodysnatcher but also aims for the more simplistic metalcore elements you’d find in bands like Knocked Loose. The one thing that is clear immediately from the intro track, “Decimation,” is that the band is coming for your head. Intro tracks for this genre are generally instrumental hype-ups, which holds true here with a brilliant, slammy pit-starter setting the mood and letting you know what you’re in for.

Once you recover from “Decimation,” you’re tossed into “Dead End,” which provides some tasty two-step riffs but lacks substance compared to the rest of the record--it’s just a little run-of-the-mill, without a defined purpose. “Burden,” however, picks the record back up with the nastiest pig squeal I think I’ve heard since Acrania dropped their album in 2014, showcasing the monstrous abilities of frontman Steve McCormack.

The second half of the album kicks off with “Collateral Damage,” which sounds like getting knocked out at the edge of a Locked Out pit feels. It’s basically a massive mosh track featuring Gamma Sector vocalist Daniel Burris, making the song almost illegally heavy. “Trauma” hops back and forth across the deathcore/metalcore line, showing off some of the best-judged songwriting on Dissociation. It’s the record’s stand-out track, closely followed by “Chin Check,” which could not close the album any better. It makes you itch for more Locked Out, and as soon as possible. Dissociation isn’t perfect, but it’s satisfying heavy and yet another gem of the Connecticut scene. “Chin Check” is in line to be one of the best metalcore outros yet, next to Volition’s “Hyron,” off their farewell EP.

Do not sleep on Locked Out. I promise you will regret it.

- Dakota G.