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Psychotic Waltz > Into the Everflow > Reviews > Warpig
Psychotic Waltz - Into the Everflow

Slaughtering The Sacred Cow - 35%

Warpig, July 31st, 2007

"Into The Everflow" is usually praised as one of the best progressive (metal) albums of all time and I think there are not many superlatives that haven’t already been used to describe it - and I can’t see a fucking reason why!

Fact is, that Psychotic Waltz’ debut album "A Social Grace" was a milestone and certainly deserves all the praise it gets. And while Mosquito was completely different it was nevertheless a masterpiece as well, just like "Bleeding", which was basically a combination of their previous work.

I guess the best thing about playing progressive music is the fact that you have all the freedom you want to express yourself (if you have the musical abilities, of course) - from Pink Floydian suites to Watchtower’s insanity or anything in-between. The crucial point, however, is that the listener should feel something while listening to your music, otherwise it’s just notes put together - and that’s basically the problem I have with this album.

Yes, Psychotic Waltz are excellent musicians and their music is pretty unique and this certainly shows on this album as well, but where is the much-lauded atmosphere, the intensity, the magic? While on the other albums they achieved just that, "Into The Everflow" always leaves me completely unimpressed.

Even if the band’s qualities occasionally shine through, they come, at no time, even close to the brilliance of the other albums. "Out Of Mind", "Little People", "Tiny Streams" and "Freakshow" are decent songs which have their moments, but not much more, the title track shows some pretty good guitar work, but like "Butterfly", is far too long and "Hanging On A String" is a nice little ballad, but quite a letdown compared to "I Remember" or "My Grave" (maybe they should have used the flute again).

"A Social Grace", "Mosquito" and "Bleeding" were masterpieces, while "Into The Everflow" was not only the only bad Psychotic Waltz album (I don’t count "Dark Millenium"), but it also was a huge disappointment to me. After reading all the raving reviews and after listening to this album over and over and over again I finally had to realize that I have simply wasted my time. Hopefully my review prevents others from wasting theirs, too!