Psychogenic Atrophy

This very interesting entity features members of the renowned avant-garde rockers The Residents who have decided to continue their eccentric journey through the music jungle by embracing more aggressive metal-ish sounds for a change. And the metal world shouldn’t complain at all as thanks to these innovators it has been enriched with another visionary act if that is ever possible in the midst of the new millennium.

But it is, on all counts at that although the guys haven’t exactly created a new trend or have carved an entirely new niche on the metal block, but the way they combined twisted dissonant psychedelia ala Voivod with spastic death/thrashy rifforamas, not to mention the oddball instrumental etudes and other eccentric ambient/atmospheric additives on their first showing (the “Creepmoon” EP) which was nothing short of eye-opening, winking at other mind-expanding recordings from around the same time like Serdce’s “The Alchemy of Harmony”, Disaffected’s “Rebirth”, and Scenery’s “Mental Confusion”.

In cases like this there’s always the pressing question as to how loyal to the thrash/death metal canons the band would remain on future instalments, but in this particular one the answer comes in a fairly strong package. The album reviewed here is an impressive modern technical/progressive thrash/death metal opus that retains all the outlandish ingredients from its predecessor, by also elaborating on the more aggressive shreds which on "Are They Cannibals?" come in such a quick, dizzying succession, with some of the most unexpected time-changes this side of Martyr and Crimson Massacre, that the listener will be literally overwhelmed. The stylized chaos stirred only slightly gets under control later, but bizarre amalgams of brutality and serenity like "Dying Foretold" or dissonant abstract nods to Gorguts’ “Obscura” like "Institutional Gears" don’t help alleviate the perplexity, especially when the latter gimmick is extended to over 9-min on the doomy psychedelic extravaganza "Xenolith”.

Lack of accessibility is not quite the order of the day as the band are well aware of their challenging approach, and dimely... sorry, timely provided dynamic technicallers like "That Cold Moment" definitely help the musicians’ cause with their clinical, surgical veneer although they’re by no means the easiest to swallow listen in the world, either, as spiral-like riff-vortexes rise out of nowhere, inevitably stirring an awe-like sensation that will even stay around for the more immediate thrashers (“"Bound in Stone"), not to mention the surreal hallucinogenic trip of the “Voivod feeds Martyr’s abscess” variety that "Malfunctioning Gears" is, or the marginally more linear Atheist-esque franticer "Odd Feats Are Bid and Won".

The shouty hardcore/death metal-ish vocals may as well remain unnoticed for a large portion of the time despite their vociferous at times interference, but the grand musical layout is so attention-grabbing that even more expert, versatile performers behind the mike would be humbled and reduced to mere, even plain unnecessary, assistants. Although the whole listening experience can be viewed as a tribute to the guys’ Northern neighbours, as a marvellous conglomerate from the best of Voivod, Martyr, and Gorguts, the way those influences have been combined all over is again nothing short of awe-inspiring the guys sometimes abruptly switching between various nuances and motifs, causing a bit of havoc and chaos again in the process, but in a splendidly listenable manner. The classic metal audience may not find this fiesta much to their liking, as the Voivod allusions are mostly made towards their mid-90’s period, but in terms of modern technical/progressive death/thrash hybridization this effort has very few rivals (Droid, Torrefy, Vektor) on the contemporary metal horizon.

The newly converted residents on the metal roster haven’t said their final word yet; how far they’re planning to space out on future recordings should not be a very big cause for worry; one can always choose to stop giving a dime… sorry, damn about any polemical, unsavoury stylistic aberrations.

This review was originally posted on Deaf Sparrow's Facebook page on 3 April 2016. Written by Stanley Stepanic.

This is an example of a wonderful cover, which knows how to be subtly ominous. Dimesland has connections to The Residents, and if that doesn't tell you what to expect out of their metal, well, go listen to the opening credits of Pee Wee Herman and remove the humor. This one came courtesy of Crucial Blast, or as we should all probably say, Das Blast.

This is the band's first release in about three years, and they decided to not call it a comeback. They've been here for years, and demanded that LL reference from me, pathetic though it may be. Anyway, the concept here is simple, abstraction. There are plenty of bands who do it, but few who do it right. What makes it right? What makes it right is style and overall presence. Some bands are content with complexity for its own sake, which ends up marginalizing the sound and turning it into a niche market of weirdos who claim it all makes sense when they're actually still trying to make sense out of it. Dimesland, on the contrary, makes abstraction accessible. Their twisting of structure can be grasped by even the most reactionary of metal fans, or at least appreciated.

That being said, it does have one clear problem. "Psychogenic Atrophy", for all its awesome destruction of structure, completely lacks a single moment of "wow, yes, that part right there." The first listen through you'll be absolutely amazed, your mind will struggle to find meaning, and when it does, ah the joy... But after finding that meaning, you're left wanting, and what you're wanting is just a plain old beast riff by which to head slam, or body slam, and you're not going to find it. Dimesland, in this release, is heady to the extreme, but they lack, well, just a nice riff or two. It would do well for their future to incorporate some of that old hook action that the best of metal still relies on, because without it we're going to have to call this kind of music "intelligent metal", and do we really need a new genre?