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| Artist..: Psygnosis |
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| Album...: Mercury |
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| Genre...: Darkwave | Label...: Season of Mist |
| Year....: 2023 | Cat.No..: |
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| R.date..: 2023-09-15 | S.date..: 2023-09-15 |
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| Source..: WEB (24bit) | Encoder.: libFLAC |
| Bitrate.: 1621kbps avg. | F.Rate..: 48.0kHz |
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| http://open.qobuz.com/album/qxfdcjqvma8cb |
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| Disc 1 / 1 |
| -------- |
| |
| 01. Opik-Oort 12:30 |
| 02. Eclipse 10:38 |
| 03. Sunshine 8:56 |
| 04. Caloris Basin 8:43 |
| 05. Uranometria 15:23 |
| |
| |
| --------------------- |
| (683.84MB) 00:56:10 |
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| France's Psygnosis started its progressive, extreme metal path in 2009. |
| Founded solely by guitarist Remi Vanhove, who wanted all of his musical |
| influences represented in one sonic vision. The band's debut EP Phrases |
| was released the same year, setting the foundations of what Psygnosis was |
| going to be, atmospheric extreme metal with electronic flourishes. R mi |
| added a second guitarist, a bassist and a death metal vocalist rounding |
| out the band while still programming all the drums himself. |
| |
| After two full length releases, one in 2012, Anti-Sublime, and the other |
| in 2014, Human Be[ing]; the year 2015 marked a significant change in the |
| band by becoming fully instrumental, foregoing vocals entirely and adding |
| cellist Raphael Verguin to the mix. The now instrumental progressive metal |
| band brought us the 2017 release of the extremely ambitious album Neptune, |
| clocking in at over one hour and seventeen minutes of the bands journey |
| through the solar system. There's an intergalactic theme that runs through |
| the bands discography and music that gives off the impression that we are |
| not alone. |
| |
| Now fully caught up and in 2023, Psygnosis is dropping what's about to be |
| their most compelling and focused album to date. Mercury, released on |
| Season of Mist, is chock-full of atmospheric beauty, jittery metallic |
| riffs, electronic elements, and technical blast beats. Structurally, the |
| album comes off as tech death, without all the flash and needless |
| noodling. In its place is what can be described as pure emotion and |
| crushing atmosphere. The haunting way the melodies and cello work together |
| with the dynamics of the full soundscape gives this a mystical feel that |
| penetrates your consciousness. All the melodic intricacies from the cello |
| and other instrumental ambience in between heavy, crunchy riff patterns |
| add a tremendous amount of organic vibrancy that takes the compositions |
| into a whole other level of intense emotional music contrasting between |
| barbaric and resplendence. At times heavy, nasty, and bulldozing, the |
| guitars and drums hit you with excessive force, chugging rhythmically and |
| snorting fire, while at other times the clarity found from the serene |
| beauty of delicate soundscapes is almost cosmic. Sadness, hope, despair, |
| longing, anger, and joy are all felt within the walls of this living, |
| breathing entity. Truthfully, this is a colossal journey that would not |
| work as well as it does if there were a vocalist. Often times instrumental |
| music, especially metal, can wear thin after only a few tracks, that is |
| simply not the case here. Mercury is an album that will be slowly digested |
| over several listens, never completely revealing its full self until |
| you're fully invested. You'll begin to hear things differently by your |
| third listen, and assuredly you'll feel and experience different emotions |
| each time. |
| |
| Five tracks, clocking in at a total running time of fifty-six minutes, |
| gives Mercury plenty of room to flex its immense brutality and seduce your |
| mind into a trancelike planetary motion. The recording, mixing, and |
| mastering was done by Thomas Cramier at SoundBlast Studios except for the |
| cello which was recorded by Raphael Verguin. Production wise, the record |
| sounds alive and energetic. Everything is easily distinguished in the mix |
| and highlights the necessary dynamics. It's easy to understand, given the |
| track record for instrumental music, how this could be written off before |
| ever being heard, but you would be doing yourself a serious disservice by |
| not checking Psygnosis out. Tremendous atmosphere of moods running |
| throughout, all based on the foundation of progressive death metal. |
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