Psychofagist
Songs Of Faint And Distortion

Ingenious, imaginative, bizarre, acrobatic…

What term best describes that “power trio” that for years has been gifting eccentric listeners with pearls of inhumanity called Psychofagist?! I would simply define them as beyond any logical scheme, but perhaps that would be reductive. Because when you deal with one of their new works, you never know what to expect; that classic question mark appears above your head, which for those who know them is something truly intriguing.

So, what has the Novara combo gifted us with in this bleak 2013? Yet another demonstration of eccentricity, no doubt about it. After “Il secondo tragico” (perhaps the most “grind”-oriented production in their discography) - and a period of religious discographic silence - Duca Conte and company have had fun playing with splits and 7”s, knocking out illustrious names (see the mini with the Polish band Antigama) and carrying forward an innovative stylistic path always tending towards the extreme. For what purpose?! Personal satisfaction first and foremost, even while talking about a band light years away from the term easy listening the Psychofagist are a collective of musicians with a capital M, great connoisseurs of music and technically excellent. Years spent on stages all over Europe and now-forgotten productions (who remembers the self-titled album from 2004?) have made this group a sort of reference for a certain fringe of listeners, who today find themselves with a small gem whose title is a sort of “tribute” to Depeche Mode: “Songs Of Faint And Distortion.”

The first thing that stands out is this: the trio has finally given discographic continuity to “Il secondo tragico”, once again overturning all schemes. To do so, they called upon masters of noise like Napalmed, Czech psychopaths who delight in producing sounds that give listeners physical discomfort and who here have had carte blanche to add even more unease to tracks already inherently unrestrained. The final result is something the band itself loves to define as avantmetal, a term behind which you might find electronics, noise, industrial, metal, and… themselves. Because if we had to talk about maturity, Psychofagist probably reached it long ago, not giving a damn about schemes, scenes, and labels so dear to temporary scribblers. They are beautiful as they are, insane and lucid enough to once again gift us with a good half-hour of sonic delirium. In cases like this, words are wasted, give a listen to “Movement”, “Inhuman 3.0” or “Song Of Faint”, you will probably hate them after a few seconds or you will be struck by a lightning bolt. The choice is yours.