Psyclon Nine - Order Of The Shadow Act I (2013) 320 kbps [Gorgatz]

Psyclon Nine - Order Of The Shadow Act I (2013) 320 kbps [Gorgatz]



- I N F O -

It's been way too long since we last got dosed with the pitch-black sonic evil of extreme industrial metallers Psyclon Nine in the form of their 2009 studio album We the Fallen (check out our review here), and after a couple years of silence I feared they might drop off the map completely. They eventually resurfaced for some new live performances, including co-headlining shows with kindred evil spirits Dawn of Ashes, and frontman Nero Bellum contributed guest vocals to DoA's latest album Anathema. At last, Nero and company returned to the studio to tackle the ambitiously epic follow-up Order of the Shadow: Act I. According to an August interview with Nero in ReGen Magazine, this record is intended to be the band's final full-length release – and while that's very sad news to long-time fans like myself, the pure naked insanity bottled in these tracks makes for a suitably apocalyptic finale to a dark and dangerous career. If you're new to the Psyclon groove, they're kinda tricky to sum up with the usual genre labels, as they tap multiple stylistic veins, including terror EBM, black metal, aggro-tech, and old-school industrial noise. The unifying elements are found in their hypnotic beats and drones, but mostly in Nero's uniquely terrifying vocals, which are often processed through multiple effects to produce a high-pitched, tormented demon cry. While this release embraces many of the band's stylistic signatures, it's still a bit of a departure from its predecessors, adopting a rawer tone and favoring thick, stacked guitars over the ear-biting midrange black metal riffs that characterized We the Fallen and its predecessor Crwn Thy Frnictr. The participation of industrial legend Chris Vrenna is also a key component in the evolution of the P9 sound: not only did he serve as one of the producers on Order of the Shadow, but the bulk of the album was recorded in his own studio.

The band is known for grand, terrifying intros, and the opener "Consecration" doesn't disappoint, serving as a slow-burning fuse that ignites the first full track "Shadows Unveiled," which packs much of the raw, pulsing force of earlier hits like “Parasitic.” The heftier, more organic feel puts you less in the mind of a rampaging demon and more that of a scarred, tormented psyche, which definitely suits the album's thematic shift: the lyrics here are relatively down-to-earth by comparison to the mythical scope of their earlier writing, setting aside Armageddon imagery in favor of scathing attacks on social collapse and cultural decay. The rage-fueled single "Use Once and Destroy," a particularly blistering example of this approach, is also ironically the closest this band will probably get to an approachable hook, and while it's still a dozen times more menacing than most danceable aggro-tech, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it becomes a club hit.

More melodic guitar passages are prominent in the dirty death-march "Suffer Well" and continue through the thrashy, kick-pummeling "Glamour Through Debris," the thunderous industrial behemoth “Remains of Eden II” and the mega-chunky "Afferte Mihi Mortem." The tempo is dialed down for the anthemic "Take My Hand While I Take My Life," which features some clean melodic vocals and touches of acoustic guitar, but the menace and intensity are not diminished in the slightest. While the production is cleaner overall, the band's expansive, chaotic and multi-layered noise experiments are still prominent in chilling atmospheric tracks like "Come and See," “Penance” and “But With a Whimper.” With the final cut "The Saint and the Valentine,” Nero returns to the subdued, ballad-like approach used earlier to excellent effect in “Under the Judas Tree,” closing the album on a surprisingly uplifting note.

If this project is indeed Psyclon Nine's swan song, it's a fitting end to a memorable trilogy that began with Crwn Thy Frnictr and continued successfully through We the Fallen. It adopts the same caustic, destructive sonic design and apocalyptic mood, but channels the rage and violence into a grittier, more organic approach that serves the emotionally raw lyrical themes. For fans of the band it's a bittersweet finale, but well worth experiencing, and it closes the final book of a dark but inviting saga in extreme music history.

[Order of the Shadow: Act I] will be the last full-length Psyclon Nine record according to frontman Nero Bellum. Damn. This is a band that has been getting better and better with each new release and their impending retirement from recording is a big loss to the industrial scene as a whole. Psyclon Nine will tour in support of the new record – they might tour for another 10 years for all we know – but in recent interviews Nero Bellum has clearly suggested that as far as albums go, this will be the last full-length record to grace our ears. The "Act I" at the end of the title leaves Bellum the choice to add installments – musical expansion packs if you will – to Order of the Shadow, but as it concludes the trilogy that started with Crwn Thy Frnicatr, it also acts as a vessel on board which Psyclon Nine can eventually fade away into the mist. It is only fitting then that this vessel is Psyclon Nine’s most well-polished and fierce work to date. Order of the Shadow may be more straightforward than We The Fallen was, but it’s also more crushing and more intense while retaining the consistency of its predecessor. There is a lot more crush and a lot less bounce here than on past Psyclon Nine releases, but the album is of the same quality the superb We The Fallen was. Order of the Shadow is the band’s heaviest, most organic album, and I couldn’t see Psyclon Nine going out any other way.

The black metal that feeds Psyclon Nine’s dark industrial flames has never before been shoveled into the mix in such quantities, consequently making Order of the Shadow the band’s meanest album to date. The orchestral vibe found on earlier records rarely permeates the sound anymore, as more savage tones are on show. Already during the first full song "Shadows Unveiled" will the listener be pounded into oblivion by the band’s rediscovered, lethal blend of black metal and aggrotech – a feat that will be repeated many times during the length of this CD. While Psyclon Nine has always been an incredibly intense band, before Order of the Shadow I wouldn’t have called any of their albums truly "crushing". Yet, that’s exactly the impression this record leaves after you’ve given it its first spin: it’s a crushing tour de force, sporting a booming production and high intensity levels, that injects a much-needed dose of adrenaline into the bloodstream. This is no ordinary industrial metal album, but another fine musical representation of the dark arts by Psyclon Nine.

There’s more to Order of the Shadow than unmitigated intensity and heaviness, though. While the pulverizing start of the record firmly transfixes, it’s from the contrastingly catchy single "Use Once And Destroy" that the album really takes off and adroitly exhibits the many sides of Psyclon Nine. "Remains of Eden: II" is possibly the band’s most sinister cut with a hair-rising chorus shout of "give your hands to the reaper," while "Order of the Shadow [The Heretic Awakened]" is every bit worthy of representing the album as a whole with its poisonous bite, cinematic melodies and many pace shifts. The trio ("Take My Hand While I Take My Life," "[Act : I] Penance" and "The Saint and the Valentine") that concludes this album, and in a way also Psyclon Nine’s career, brings forth some much needed serenity and melodicism, providing an (for lack of a better word) epic conclusion to Order of The Shadow. A grand closer was due to wrap everything up and the band did not disappoint, as "The Saint and the Valentine," a half-acoustic elegy with a dramatic main melody, serves as the ultimate late-night farewell.

2013 has not been a good year for industrial metal. Highlights have been few and far between and the only records that truly impressed me were by Mechina and The Amenta – two bands who can’t be fully defined with the "industrial" denominator. Neither can Psyclon Nine for that matter, but as far as electronic metal albums go, Order of the Shadow stands head and shoulders above its competitors (not that there were many, but still). It’s a fantastic final effort from Nero Bellum and co, displaying everything that made us appreciate Psyclon Nine in the first place. Nefarious interludes, dark industrial, ferocious metal, Bellum’s vicious screams and an inherent sense of candor – everything that made Pysclon Nine Psyclon Nine is here in a neatly streamlined package. On the downside, as much as I’m glad they didn’t disappoint and managed to put forth an album that can easily be the face of industrial metal in 2013, I’m gutted by the knowledge that this is most probably the last we see of Psyclon Nine on record. With them we will lose one of the most prolific, forward-thinking bands in industrial metal. The only upside? We have some damn fine records to dust off every now and again, the last of which is also a true highlight alongside We The Fallen.

- T R A C K L I S T -

01. [Act I] Consecration
02. Shadows Unveiled
03. Suffer Well
04. Glamour Through Debris
05. Come and See
06. Afferte Mihi Mortem
07. Use Once and Destroy
08. Remains of Eden II
09. But, With a Whimper
10. Order of the Shadow [The Heretic Awakened]
11. Take My Hand While I Take My Life
12. [Act I] Penance
13. The Saint and the Valentine

Quality: Mp3, CBR 320 kbps
Genre: Dark Electro / Industrial Metal / Black Metal
Size: 116.66