A Social Grace

Note: I'll be reviewing the 13-track version of the album here, with "Successor," "Only in a Dream," and "Spiral Tower" added to the track listing; I consider this to be the "complete" version of the album and would highly recommend this version over the original, 10-track version.


"Progressive metal" might be my favorite overall genre, yet only in a strange, rather niche way. I dislike - in fact, I intensely dislike - the vast majority of progressive metal bands. The entire trend inspired by what I consider to be one of the worst ever influences on metal, Dream Theater, which some refer to as "modern prog," is something I almost exhaustively detest. If I were to mention progressive metal as my favorite genre to most casual metal listeners, they'd probably immediately bring up Dream Theater, or perhaps Opeth, but not at all the sort of progressive metal I'm referring to. That style has almost never been terribly popular, with Fates Warning's The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian being the only exceptions I can think of. I suppose I could include Crimson Glory as well, as they were a progressive power metal band and I like them, but the sort of progressive metal I'm referring to here is the dense, complex, obtuse stuff like the aforementioned Fates Warning album - I don't think Crimson Glory would qualify here to label exclusively as "progressive metal," as they were easily just as much heavy/power metal. I'm talking about stuff which is rooted in a sound that predates Dream Theater entirely; Fates Warning being the largest influence, with a few other bands popping up in the mid-to-late 80s as well, like Slauter Xstroyes, Voivod, and Adramelch. Not to suggest that all these bands sound very similar to one another; in fact, it's almost the opposite that causes me to group them together. They all sounded completely different from everyone else, while still all falling under the umbrella descriptor "progressive metal." They also all tended to have a high level of complexity, more so than Queensryche and their ilk. The beginning of the 90s saw a rise in the scope and maturity of this scene, with bands like Holocaust (their stark change in sound began than, at least), Brothers Grimm, and Psychotic Waltz beginning to build on the sound bands like Voivod and Fates Warning had created.

However, while Psychotic Waltz's debut full-length album, A Social Grace, was probably influenced somewhat by Fates Warning, it's immediately clear upon hearing it that we're dealing with another beast entirely. The sound here is rather thrashy, completely devoid of power metal, and much, much darker in tone. While Awaken the Guardian is certainly a dense, complex masterpiece, the journey there is to a fantasy world of benign wonder and awe, perhaps akin to the likes of Tolkien. There is nothing benign at all about the atmosphere A Social Grace creates. If Awaken the Guardian is akin to Tolkien, then A Social Grace is more akin to the psychological horror of Stephen King. While, on a fundamental level, the two albums share a very similar musical philosophy, the similarities end there. A Social Grace is, quite frankly, the soundtrack to someone's descent into insanity.

For a more well-known comparison to the general sound present here, try Crimson Glory's "Lost Reflection." The softer acoustic sections here tend to sound a lot like that song, with the concept spread out over an entire album. "...And the Devil Cried" pulls the listener immediately into this distorted cacophony of thoughts without pulling any punches, choosing to start the album with an incredibly bizarre, inaccessible thrash riff that probably turned all but the most serious listeners away. While very little about the album is accessible in any context, the album opener is one of the least accessible songs of all, an odd but interesting choice for the band; clearly they weren't overly interested in commercial success. The song continues in a darkly tangled morass of more bizarre riffs, creating a sensation of utter confusion, frustration, and hopelessness. Don't get me wrong; when I say confusion I don't mean that it sounds as though the songwriter was confused about the direction; it sounds very meticulously planned, deliberately creating that atmosphere. Vocalist Buddy Lackey does an incredible job of bolstering this feeling of insanity while still maintaining a strong technical prowess, screaming and shrieking along to the dissonance of the guitars in full force.

"Halo of Thorns" immediately shifts moods, drifting into a pitiable mire of depression and utter terror without any transition, as might happen in someone with severe mental illness. Lackey proves himself perfectly capable of adjusting his vocals to the somewhat more restrained moans and wails of despair heard here, and the guitars construct a frighteningly mysterious and murky web of wretched introspection. There is a clear blurring between reality and dream here, although it seems that neither is particularly pleasant. The lyrics are also very disconnected and stream-of-consciousness, as though the person is jumping from nightmare to nightmare seemingly without any reason. "Another Prophet Song" continues in a very anxious and apprehensive tone, as does "Successor." "I Remember" takes a much different tone, more apathetically reflective, musing over the relative unimportance of everything, the sort of nihilism that comes from prolonged mental torment, perhaps a rationalization to make everything seem just a little less agonizing. For those who have experienced this sort of unending mental agony, it's most likely something all too familiar.

"I of the Storm" is more anxious thrashy screaming, then we come to the title track, which I'd say is probably the crux of the album, and probably the most accessible track along with "I Remember." Or perhaps I should say "least inaccessible." The angry cries against those judgmental of the protagonist, terrified but almost resigned complaints about hearing voices, and occasional periods of blissful relief make the song perhaps most representative of the theme of insanity and the album as a whole, as the ideas and moods presented are very clear yet no less unsettling. The next couple of songs continue the shift of tortured and confused moods, closing the album with the chilling finality of "Nothing," a spiritual continuation of "I Remember" in which the protagonist ultimately is forced to resign himself to the reality of his insanity and the perpetual torture that is his existence. The nihilism here is decidedly more pronounced, vehemently asserting that nothing at all, without exception, has any meaning, and existence is essentially nothing more than a prolonged nightmare.

The consistent accuracy with which this mental journey of horror is presented is the most stunning thing about the album. At almost no point does anything break the facade and suggest that this is mere music rather than reality. The insight with which the songwriters gazed deeply into the maw of utter insanity is unparalleled; this is one of the most inaccessible albums I have heard in my life, perhaps the most inaccessible, but if you can get to the point where it becomes one continuous journey, you'll find it incredible and utterly terrifying. Not for the casual listener by any stretch, but for those devoted to bizarre and esoteric albums like this, it will be well worth it.