Psyclon Nine’s new album, [Order of the Shadow: Act I], (November 12, 2013, Metropolis Records) revisits the band’s heavy-handed outlooks on society, humanity and religion. Psyclon Nine isn’t concerned with the validity of the monsters under your bed. They’re not here to warn you about Hollywood horror plots or spook you with carefully created synth noises. Psyclon Nine wants you to remember that your worst enemy is living right next door. It is your neighbor, your preacher or even yourself that you should be the most afraid of. They want you to know that there is nothing humane about humanity.
The album’s opening track “Shadows Unveiled” paints an indistinct portrait of the beginning of end times. The lyrics stand at attention, clearly preached above rough blasted guitar and drums laced with computerized synth noise. “Suffer Well” follows suit, meshing the band’s high-pitched grindcore choruses with straightforward industrial based verses. Themes of suffering, suicide, disease and repentance emerge from the murky corners of the album, as listeners punch their ticket to the gateways of hell with the simple click of the play button.
That path to Hades, however, has been set in motion for the last thirteen years. Branching out significantly from their original roots as a guitar driven industrial band, Psyclon Nine’s metamorphosis steers them towards becoming the epitome of the dark industrial grindcore band. With touches of black metal, post-punk and hardcore breaks blended into the mix of the album’s thirteen terrorizing tracks, the release will punctuate the band’s fluent use of precise percussion blast beats and piercing, distorted guitar slapped over scathing vocals and evil electronics. The release delivers on the dark promises whispered to fans from the shadows and Psyclon Nine is aimed to draw the attention of fans enthralled with everything from Motionless in White to Black Veil Brides.
Taking root in 2000 with influences bleeding in from KDFDM and Ministry, Nero Bellum and Josef Heresy alter their style and influences in favor of a more aggressive electronic industrial sound similar to :wumpscut:, Velvet Acid Christ and Suicide Commando. The band’s aggrotech-heavy debut album, Devine Infekt, was released in the late summer of 2003, drawing the attention of Metropolis Records, who released the band’s second studio album in 2005. It was the band’s 2006 release, Crwn Thy Franicatr that would begin the shift toward their signature darker sound. The band took their biggest step away from the terror-EDM sound they had been rooted in, towards black-metal styled guitars, beat-blasted drums and shrieking vocals. We The Fallen would reflect those changes. Its release in 2009 would fuse the sounds of grindcore and aggrotech like no previous Psyclon Nine album. On November 11, 2013, Psyclon Nine begins their next chapter with the [Order Of The Shadow: Act 1] on Metropolis Records.
