If you’re looking for the hip place to indulge in your most favorite sounds of the Doom, DIrge, Sludge, and Prog variety then look no further than PSYCHONAUT’s Violate Consensus Reality which has all those elements and more and combines the might of contemporaries like Irist and Hippotraktor (Who also feature PSYCHONAUT vocalist/guitarist Stefan de Graef actually) to form their own majestic brand of those sounds refined into a beautifully bodacious full-length collection of your new favorite songs.
“A Storm Approaching” is just brimming with a natural excitement culminating in a frenzied and feverish pitch that continually thrives as the track continues to reveal more with de Graef’s tangled shreds conveying a potent message just as Harm Peters’ stellar slamming on the percussion accents the mood. “All Your Gods Have Gone” is heavenly heaviness between bouts of technical ecstasy as de Graef switches between a monstrous growl and a cathartic croon with Thomas Michiels’s bass nicely fitting in between the space left in the wake of de Graef’s guitars and Peters’ drums. “Age Of Separation” builds from there by utilizing Michiels’ bass in a less loud way beginning with a singular reverberation that brings to mind Tool as the song unwinds into a more complex deity of divine intricacies and devilish noise.
The title track is blissfully transcendent with Brutus’ Stefanie Mannaerts (Please, please, PLEASE check out Brutus’ recently unleashed Unison Life if you haven’t already) lending a serene voice to start off an almost nine minute journey that more than delivers in scope and scale with de Graef’s monstrous howl acting as the perfect counterpoint vocally as Amenra’s Colin H. van Eeckhout also lends a “hand” with a homily. “Hope” presents a labyrinth of sounds with pianos and strings intertwining at the song’s onset before building into this glorious boom of anthemic aural therapy followed by “Interbeing” and another bout of wizened Prog Rawk. Then enters “A Pacifist’s Guide To Violence” amidst a flurry of heavy and fast riffage while Peters and Michiels’ rhythmic force provide more fuel for the fire that continually rages over these three and a half minutes and lays the foundation for a truly epic showdown which happens across the broad, expansive almost thirteen minute beastie that is “Toward The Edge” to close out PSYCHONAUT’s latest in a truly spectacular fashion.
Violate Consensus Reality arrives on October 28th through Pelagic Records and you can get yer pre-order and pre-save on now when you head here! For the latest on PSYCHONAUT, follow the trail of socials by clicking here, here, or here.