The Answer Is In The Beat

Mirrors For Psychic Warfare: self-titled (Neurot, 2016)

June 29, 2016 at 11:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This collaboration between Chicago-based engineer/producer/musician Sanford Parker (Buried At Sea, Nachtmystium) and Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot) blends heavy guitars, electronics, and deep vocals for a doomy but not overwhelmingly brutal experience. Swans definitely come to mind, but this duo definitely isn’t as concerned with constructing a pummeling, world-conquering, transcendent maelstrom of sound. All 5 of this album’s tracks sound different. It’s not entirely accurate to describe it as sludge metal or industrial or anything close to those orbits, but they might help pointing you in the right direction. “Oracles Hex” takes a long time of swirling, churning guitars and vocals before the clattering electronics and deep bass tones hit. “A Thorn to See” is a 15-minute lament of a blackened soul, building from a slow Scorn-ish drum machine and eventually piling on more guitar shredding and buzzing electronics. “CNN WTZ” is beatless and gets closer to Sunn O))) territory, with slow, droning guitars and eventually shrieked vocals and static noise. “I’ll Try You All” starts out with detached guitar notes and howled vocals, eventually crushing with feedback noise rotating between both speakers, and no drums, like the previous track. “43” is possibly the most haunting track, starting out with ominous piano and horns before the guitars come in. The song’s final minutes feature furious incomprehensible distorted screaming underneath the blaring horns. Really a fantastic album, it crushes in ways you wouldn’t expect.