San Diego's Psychotic Waltz was never a widely-recognized band here in the States, but they developed something of a cult following on the back of their outstanding 1990 self-released debut album, A Social Grace. They went on to release three more albums, the sophomore effort also self-financed and the final two on minor labels Zardoz and Intercord. Their underground popularity prompted (and was helped along by) Metal Blade Records, who in 2004 re-released all four albums along with some bonus material. It was around that time that I first heard them, and while sorry that I wasn't aware of them when they were active (and more importantly, touring), I'm sure glad I was fortunate enough to come across their music at all. In some ways they throw back to the early metal and hard rock sounds of Black Sabbath (with detuned guitars playing in octaves with the bass and a manic vocal style) and Jethro Tull (lead vocalist Buddy Lackey even features on flute from time to time). In fact I'd call those two bands, along with perhaps early Fates Warning, their main musical influences. The four albums are solid efforts throughout, with the first two being the heavier and more progressive metal, and the latter two a bit more atmospheric and polished. According to their website, they reunited a couple years ago and a new album is in the works.
My favorite Psychotic Waltz album is also the rawest, their debut A Social Grace. It's packed with 13 varied, creative and thoroughly enjoyable songs, all very enthusiastically performed. The song I'm including below - "In This Place" - is one of my favorites on the album, although all the songs are terrific with "I Remember" and "Spiral Tower" also deserving any additional online searching you might be willing to do. "In This Place" starts with a quick drum intro and an angular opening riff in 4. The verse enters shortly thereafter (0:29) in an odd and difficult 15/8 meter. And it just gets twistier through the chorus and then the bridge at 1:35, after which a half-time section leads into a jam over which a bizarre narrative is spoken and an equally bizarre guitar solo is played. Finally, the verse recapitulates at 3:22, followed by a final repetition of the chorus and a relentless instrumental outro to the exclamation point ending. This thing is a roller coaster ride start to finish; go ahead and strap in and give it a listen. I hope it's as fun for you as it is for me.
[Edit] - "In This Place" went away on YouTube, so I'm substituting the heavy "Spiral Tower" in its place for now. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment