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Rating: Psychotic Waltz, originating from San Diego, can certainly be defined as the most unfortunate prog metal musicians in rock history (oops, I meant to say that rock history has forgotten). In fact, their respectable debut "A Social Grace", dated 1989, was released on a German indie label (Rising Sun Records), which soon went bankrupt. Then this "Into The Everflow" was released by another German indie label (Dream Circle Records) which also went bankrupt. To cap off the misfortune, if this seems little to you, the lead guitarist and pianist Dan Rock fell from a bridge and had to support the small promotional tour for this album while seated; on the other hand, the other guitarist Brain McAlpin was also recovering from a previous highway accident and was confined to a wheelchair.
Apart from their masterful string of bad luck, Psychotic Waltz are skilled musicians who indeed offer a kind of prog metal that blends psychedelia, suffocating and distressing atmospheres, suggestion, and poetry which now take the form of very delicate arpeggios and hyper-melodic solos, and at other times turn into powerful and heavy riffs and soothing and magnetic tribal rhythms. Recorded in Europe, precisely in Germany, after exhausting sessions in a very old medieval castle where the group decided to live - cunningly, I would say - during the cold winter of 1992, "Into The Everflow" is a more complex, dark, and finely crafted work than the previous, undoubtedly more compact, theatrical at times, and soft in its moments.
"Ashes", the semi-instrumental opening track, is an excellent calling card for the new Psychotic Waltz, who choose to weave magically spectral melodic lines thanks to a pompous and triumphant string intro that creates a ethereal and distressing climax up to Brian McAlpin's delicate arpeggio and Leggio's march and the evil explosion of the distorted guitars. "Ashes" is a fragment of serene and soft sky relentlessly slashed by a lightning bolt that only precedes an imminent storm; it is a melodic carpet, a sonic fresco that perfectly suits the exquisite vocal line of Buddy Lackey, which personally reminds me of David Bowie's voice in this piece.
A storm that arrives inexorably with the insane and psychotic dances of "Out Of Mind" and "Tiny Dreams", in which the frenzy and raw violence of the guitars create a very sharp and acidic groove that becomes more and more hysterical and tense until it reaches breaking point, especially due to the jolts and sudden breaks that animate them, almost poking at us irritatingly like animals cornered with no way out.
Following is the true gem of the platter, the psychedelic and mellifluous title track "Into The Everflow", where a sickly arpeggiated intro, and Lackey's almost whispered, serene and impalpable voice, the explosion of the two guitars that wrap tenaciously until the tightest grip until they dissolve in the central solo only to pierce soft flesh like cruel assassins with their nervous riff in the closing of the track and the punctual and cadenced rhythmic solution of Evans' bass and Leggio's drums create a small treasure trove of wonderful sensations, floating between stunning yet dark dreaminess and a decidedly blurred yet so powerfully direct reality.
Before the well-deserved rest comes the hysterical shock from listening to "Little People", which hinges on a disturbing riff and a masterful work by Leggio on the drums, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere, a cyanide-laced groove that Lackey's elusive vocals make even more sick. The well-deserved rest comes with the very sweet acoustic "Hanging on a String", a true poem that cradles and delivers emotions with every listen.
The platter closes with the granite and pressing "Freakshow", almost a punch in the stomach where Lackey surpasses himself, going from impossible and very acidic high notes to very sweet whispers, and the very wicked "Butterfly", another immense gem of the album, where Lackey and Rock transform into percussionists for the central section of a track unpredictable in its evolution, almost a heart fiercely torn out that lives on twitches (apart from the "Purple Haze" citation from Hendrix and "Aqualung" from Jethro Tull, whose Ian Anderson is Lackey's favorite singer).
Excuse the prolixity and thank you.
See Ya!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Out of Mind (04:46)
my spirit takes a journey through my mind
in through the endless coloured waves
the shaded patterns moving through these places
fan across the faces of my memory
out of sight not out of mind
intellactuality is holding nothing left for me on this flight
the spaces of the time before
leave the logic at the door of reality
out of sight not out of mind
rain of the summer fills the hand
a snow white turtle on a stained glass land
lie overturned, legs that kick and claw
cannot bite into the wall
this vision paling slowly now into the tunneling liquid space
inside this microdot daydream
i seek an understanding of my life in this place
out of sight not out of mind
04 Into the Everflow (08:21)
i climb up to the mountain
just to share my point of view
of life, the universe and everything
i'll take you to the fountain
just to have a drink with you
a slow and everlasting dream
and if we are here just to ease god's sorrow
lord come to me and i'll ease your mind
come to me cause i know it's my only way out of this place
and i know it will come in time
don't take me away too soon
but please don't be late for me
and he dipped his head into the existential void
where he called into the wall of silent empty ears
among the sea of tangled mouths gnashing
singing their hideous shrieking smile
a hard flowing river of hellos he could not wade against
he could not wade against them
tortured tongues feast their frenzy
they hiss out all that is nothing
the night time of the hearing flower
has put aside the laugh dancing flame
no longer warming the wings
of their fluttering dust angel mistress
the petals have closed for this long night
their brittle limbs are thinning
their meek and weeping gesture fares their well
to the falling paper blossoms
one by one, down into the everflow
one by one, drown into the overflow
gliding through the emptiness
flying through the emptiness
05 Little People (04:04)
i feel again i'm coming home
to find the peace i feel alone
my television friends have gone
now i can take my time to talk about them
they're nice to me, they smile to me
they are what they'd like me to be
i let them keep my company
and i don't even care what they're selling
they're only selling
look into these little boxes
bluer weather, greener grass
everyone has lots of money
everyone's in style
little people, little houses
happy living little lives
when they wake up with perfect makeup
it makes me sick
don't need a life of my own, you know i'm so satisfied
deep in the screen they have made me believe
i'm so pacified
they keep me asleep with each day they repeat
this life they pretend to me
i took my television, unplugged it from the wall
tiny people crawling as i broke it on the floor
i put them in my pockets, took them where they can't be found
then i held them in my hands
then i made them do really bad things
now i'm afraid to be at home
because i fear i'm not alone
my television friends have grown
now i'm afraid of what they might be selling
what are they selling
06 Hanging on a String (03:37)
riding on an endless carousel of wishes, hopes and dreams
and it seems that i loose more than i gain
all the same i remain hanging on a string
is it wrong
will it save me from the fall
or will it just be broken by the wind
as it spins
all i save seems to just get taken all away
well it seems like life is just a game of faith
no mistake
always try to give more than you take
always try to make a little more
out of nothing, if not less
always better than your best
as you try
will you fly
will you sail through the sky
and leave it all behind with yesterday
will you say i have faith
and that's one thing they'll never take away
if i had a chance, lord one more chance to try
i would start again, nothing to pretend
without a lie
i would try
i would fly
i would sail through the sky
and leave the misery with yesterday
and i'll say i have faith
and that's one thing they'll never take away
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