The bell has not tolled yet for Psyclon Nine.
Led by Nero Bellum (vocals/keyboards/guitar/bass, Skold, Not My God), supported by Jon Siren (drums, Skold, I Am X) and Todd Buller (guitar/backing vocals), the band announced in 2025 the release of their eighth album, AND THEN OBLIVION, on Metropolis Records.
DEVILS WORK kicks off the album with mysterious noises, followed by the arrival of ultra-saturated industrial riffs and Nero‘s ever-disturbing vocals, framed by oppressive effects. The track remains fairly dark and hazy, but I CHOOSE VIOLENCE is—as its name suggests—more aggressive, albeit in an almost discreet way, favoring suffocating and haunting sounds before unleashing the devastating double bass drum on the final. We continue with SHOOT TO KILL, which offers catchy and almost more accessible tones, thanks in particular to the keyboards, while the vocals become more menacing before letting CRWLNG FRM CNT T CSKT mix the darkest tones with infernal heaviness and overvolted drums. The album continues in the stifling tones with LOCUST OF EVERYTHING, which, after a moment of uncertainty, returns to pure, jerky violence, then the band imposes a new respite with SPEAK EVIL and its catchy beat that eventually ignites, welcoming more virulent parts but also somehow a little more danceable, especially towards the end. SAY YOUR PRAYERS takes over, almost immediately offering an imposing sound, interspersed with moments of anguish, but which will eventually hammer us before giving way to APRÈS TOI, LE DELUGE, which begins in a minimalistic way, then metamorphoses into a truly soothing moment of gentleness. The guitar disturbs this tranquility, which remains fairly gentle, but TAXIDERMY brings the album to a close with strange Gothic sounds coupled with unhealthy clean vocals that haunt us before the return of the saturated rhythm, which intensifies this uncomfortable feeling before letting it fade away.
Psyclon Nine has always been a band apart, with clearly identifiable influences but mixed together in the name of chaos and darkness. Each composition on AND THEN OBLIVION has a distinct identity, and its diversity is as much its strength as its oppression.
90/100
