Have you ever thought about melting Aggrotech and Black Metal together ? Because Nero Bellum, Psyclon Nine’s singer, had it since 1999 under the name of Defkon Sodomy.
Even if the Aggrotech/electro roots are here since the very beginning, the Gothic and Black Metal influences will come with time and records. Nero (voice) changes his partners many times thought records. The most current ones will be Rotny Ford (guitar, synth) and Sevin (synth), while different live or studio members will follow (Jon Siren, Abbey Nex, Merritt Goodwin, Brent Ashley, Josef Heresy, Eric Gottesman, Glitch Nix…). Although really mysterious, this band is one of the firsts to leave their mark in my mind. We will focus today on their fourth full-length, We, The Fallen. Be ready for corruption.
The record starts with a special introduction. Completely made by samplers that blends electronic sounds and distant screams, Soulless (The Makers Reflection) will impose a frightening ambience on the very beginning. It’s only after this song that We, The Fallen comes near to our mind. Anchored in a Gothic Electronic/Aggrotech style, but with darker some ambient parts. Nero’s voice is more sharp and shrilling, while Heartworm is clearly inspired by unholy Black Metal to seduce before a heavy and unexpected break.
Thy Serpent Tongue directly focuses on an edgy and uncompromised Industrial Metal interspersed by Electronic moments to activate hysteria in a pit, while Bloodwork’s goal is to calm us down, without forgetting a heavy but catchy rhythm part. The Derelict (God Forsaken) is a short break that starts slower than the other songs and still finished on keyboard notes while characteristic sound reminds us the style’s great names.
Let’s come back on a more aggressive style than ever with Widowmaker and Brandan Schieppati’s guest vocals (Bleeding Through) for a mix that seduces me for sure, while it’s the riff’s slowness that catches my ear on There But For The Grace Of God. I advice you to take a break with the record’s last break, Of Decay (An Exit) if you’re afraid of the band’s heavy and oppressive sound.
A keyboard progressively comes to take hold of your earphones to uncork on Suicide Note Lullaby. Impossible to be reassured by this beautiful hymn to death, but which comes back on the band’s Industrial side before the last chorus. As One With The Flies is a cold and icy track, while Under The Judas Tree, the record’s last track, allows us to end on an acoustic part. Even if it’s not on the full song, this part reminds that the band can fit in every universes, as long as the gloomy side allows them to exist.
Alternating between anti-christianism and questions on religion, Psyclon Nine knew how to get inspired by the Industrial/Aggrotech heavyweights to create themselves a powerful and incomparable identity. The last european tour was cancelled because of two member’s departure, I’m patiently waiting for another one, because the band isn’t this common in Europe.
90/100