Psyclon Nine - Crwn Thy Frnicatr

Crwn Thy Frnicatr is Psyclon Nine’s third full length, and their second to be released stateside. Upon my initial listen I found elements of Suicide Commando, Wumpscut, and other, darker electro acts. I thought that the music throughout the CD was intense, hard, and extremely edgy, but I had a hard time with the vocals. The vocals came across like a screaming, devilish infant being drowned out by the music. Most of the time, they are completely undecipherable due to the excessive use of distortion and the aggressive music. It took a good 5 to 6 listens before I pieced it all together. Without the vocals the music just wouldn’t have the same dark punch that it has with them. While songs such as Parasitic and Better than Suicide ooze a bit too much influence from Suicide Commando, other tracks like Scar of the Deceiver and The Purging stray into their own dark musical realms. The former is a belligerent, guitar heavy electro track that aligns itself more with the small, electro-punk scene. The Purging is a slow moving, creepy, and twisted electro track with a thick, noisy rhythm. The cracking, ‘sampled’ piano really gives this track an eerie edge. Now that I’ve fully absorbed this disc I find it much more interesting than when I first gave it a shot. The dark nature of this CD is more so than most, and somewhat reminded me of Dementia Simplex from back in the 90’s.

written Nov '06