{"id":827,"date":"2013-10-31T21:32:40","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T21:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=827"},"modified":"2014-07-14T23:19:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T23:19:42","slug":"psyclon-nine-order-of-the-shadow-act-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=827","title":{"rendered":"Psyclon Nine \u201cOrder of the Shadow [Act I]\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Psyclon Nine<br \/>\n\u201cOrder of the Shadow [Act I]\u201d<br \/>\nMetropolis Records<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Psycon-Nine.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Psycon-Nine.png\" alt=\"Psycon Nine\" width=\"425\" height=\"425\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-828\" srcset=\"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Psycon-Nine.png 425w, http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Psycon-Nine-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Psycon-Nine-300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBy Doktor John<\/p>\n<p>This San Francisco-based industrial\/metal crossover band is back from a hiatus since 2010 with a new album due for release on November 12. There are 13 tracks, almost strictly for those in the head-banger (if that term still has meaning) crowd who are willing to accept techno-industrial elements on the menu.<\/p>\n<p>    There\u2019s a fair amount of variety in this album. Several tracks are noted to begin with or have variable stretches within them consisting of formless, wind-like electronica and distant menacing samples. Numerous songs contain frantic, gasping vocals synchronized to artillery-like, pounding beats and are very danceable. Other tracks like \u201cSuffer Well\u201d and \u201cGlamor Through Debris\u201d employ death metal forms, such as machine-gun-fast vocals that are aggressive to the point of being vicious, but are better to dance to than your usual heavy metal.<\/p>\n<p>    Track12, \u201cPenance\u201d is barely a minute long and consists of wind-like noise without melody or rhythm, and then a brief noise bridge that could be the sound of two locomotives being violently slammed together numerous times before lapsing back into relatively soothing noise.<\/p>\n<p>    Track 9, \u201cBut With a Whimper,\u201d contrary to T.S. Eliot\u2019s line \u201c\u2026the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper,\u201d contains a couple of series of loud bangs separated by desperate whispering, and is definitely not for dancing.<\/p>\n<p>    The final track, \u201cThe Saint and the Valentine\u201d comes as an astounding melodious departure from the rest of the album, with pitch-dark minor-key symphonic elements and moments of pleasurable, carefully sung vocals in a theatrical whisper alternating with the abrasive screaming heard on the rest of the album.<\/p>\n<p>     Heavy metal is neither my favorite, nor my forte to evaluate. \u201cOrder of the Shadow [Act I]\u201d has definite redeeming features, although it is not going to be within everybody\u2019s comfortable listening zone. The best thing I can say about it is that it sounds like Skinny Puppy died in a horrible accident, went straight to hell, connected with some metal heads and from there produced this brutally seductive album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psyclon Nine \u201cOrder of the Shadow [Act I]\u201d Metropolis Records By Doktor John This San Francisco-based industrial\/metal crossover band is back from a hiatus since 2010 with a new album due for release on November 12. There are 13 tracks, almost strictly for those in the head-banger (if that term still has meaning) crowd who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}