PsyOpus "s/t" CD
[self-released]
Hell if I know what the fuck to call this! I guess you can't really call it anything short of sheer insanity. Maniacal cackling vocal shrieks and screams, complete chaos in the riff department, a slew of changes, a constant barrage of high speed and wildly technical madness, jazzy influences, wild disharmonic leads... what else? Plenty. But my brain hurts trying to wrap itself around this - one of the shortest demos of all time from a Rochester band that has in its ranks former members of Kalibas, Inertia, Within, Hate Machine, and Low Ton. As for the recording, the mix is uneven, favoring guitars and vocals over the rhythm section - which isn't optimal as the rhythm section is superbly precise and needs more warmth and attention (the cymbals are loud enough, it's the drums themselves are a bit quiet). And the guitar tone could stand to be less on the caustic side, but the vocals sound very nice to me... it's not bad. They need some work, but music this fucked up is kind of hard to nail down perfectly. The CD-R comes in a plastic sleeve with a color insert that looks pretty nice: Consistent typefaces, bright orange geometric designs over a dull brown background, a few black and white band photos blended together, etc. I like this, but it's too off the wall for me to listen to and really get into. As musicians these cats are amazing, and they write some sick riffs that are off the charts as far as complexity and weirdness go, but I think the song structures need more fluidity and coherence to really destroy. They're gonna drop a full-length on Blackmarket Activities at some point, so I'll be looking forward to hearing what they come up with for that. This is fucking crazy stuff. I wish more than two tracks were present, as that might give me a better idea of what they can do... but this is a decent hint. (6/10)
Running time - 7:29, Tracks: 2
[Notable tracks: both have their moments of excellence]
PsyOpus - http://www.psyopus.com

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