Psyopus – Odd Senses

Band: Psyopus
Album: Odd Senses
Genre: Grindcore/Technical Grind
Label: Metal Blade

Tracks:
1. .44
2. Medusa
3. The Burning Halo
4. Duct Tape Smile
5. X and Y
6. Boogeyman
7. Imogen’s Puzzle Pt. 3
8. Choker Chain
9. Ms. Shyflower
10. A Murder To Child
11. Untitled Track

For those of you who don’t know or are just about to delve into grindcore, Psyopus might frighten you, seriously…I am not even joking. It’s like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Fall Of Troy had a baby in a mental institution. Then the kid grew up to take speed and originate his own form of grind/math-core. That is what Psyopus is in a nutshell, rather, a figurative nutshell. Now that we have covered that minor detail about this quartet from Rochester, New York it’s about time to show why they out-right the most extreme and chaotic grind-core band out there.

Their new album Odd Senses just recently dropped on February 17 and the people have spoken that they love this grind/math-core based band. Their time signatures are precise and meticulous and the results will knock you off your feet. The sheer complexity of their verses and the heart-attack inducing drum patterns of Jason Bauers will have you asking for an oxygen mask. The intense rotary that is Christopher “Arpmandude” Arp’s guitar playing so is ridiculously fast and unorthodox words cannot describe it alone. You just have to listen for yourself.

The fourth track “Duct Tape Smile” is the most sinister song I’ve heard in a long time. There is a girl screaming bloody murder in the background and throughout parts. In the song the guy seems to be torturing her and asking to beg for her life. Simply brutal. The song “Choker Chain” has an annoying girls voice repetitively saying lines not once, not twice but 17 times! It’s very annoying and yes, we get the point, that women talk a lot but shouldn’t you be straying away from overdoing it in that aspect. It honestly hurt me to listen to that whole song and by the end wanted to pull my hair out. All-in-all the other songs on the record are decent. The reason I say this is because of the fact that they aren’t structured very well and there is no flow throughout the album. Other than those points my favorite track on Odd Senses was “Medusa” simply because of the insane guitar sweeping and rapid-fire snare rolling sequences.

About half way through I had had to seriously stop listening to this record and take an Advil. It’s a lot to take in at once and if you’re not ready for it it’ll kick you in the butt. Don’t get me wrong the instrumentation on the tracks is brilliant but it seems as if there isn’t any structure as far as song writing is concerned. I would be interested to see these guys in concert to actually see the raw intensity of their music. The energy and talent displayed would probably be one to ogle at.

Don’t be fooled if you think these guys just got signed based off of looks alone haha (no offense guys). They have a resume to back up their music as well. Arp, in 2001, was Rochester’s regional winner of Limp Bizkit’s Guitarist Search. Bassist Mike Horn graduated from The Shenandoah Conservatory with a degree in Arts Management, with a minor in jazz bass, along with 2 years of classical bass training at the institution.

Even though there is tremendous guitar and drum work on this record, as a whole, I feel it could have been structured better. I’d suggest buying this album if you are looking to expand your horizons in grind/math-core but if not then probably not the best choice for a sit-down listen.

*Written By: Grant Trimboli*
Rating: 5/10

James Shotwell
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2 Responses to “Psyopus – Odd Senses”

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