The Psyke Project - Apnea Review

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Tracklist:
1. The Voice Of Commandment
2. I Get Paralyzed
3. Panic
4. Creating Landscapes
5. Physical Romance
6. Dedication
7. Love Shown In A Handful Of Dirt
8. Poems Written By Kings Listen
9. Jugganata
10. Not In My Time

Release Date: 07/08/2008

user rating

3.5
great

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On 1 Lists

4.0
excellent

Super Jens STAFF (62 Reviews)

2008-09-30 | 25 comments | 2,384 views

Summary: Ever wondered what a Converge/Isis/Neurosis/Cult Of Luna crossover would sound like? Look no further...

It should not be a secret anymore: in terms of guitar driven music the Scandinavian countries are always good for an excellent export. Be it metal, punk, hardcore or just plain straight rock. This includes Denmark, the home of The Psyke Project. In their home scene they are no secret insider tip anymore, and play festivals like the legendary Roskilde Open Air. Strange enough, beyond the borders they are virtualy unknown. Which is kind of odd, taking into account what one can hear here: an interesting mix and crossover between Converge, Isis, Neurosis and Cult Of Luna, spiced with a little punk and metal.

All starts of quite mellow: the first minutes of the opener 'The Voice Of Commandment' are instrumental, with a spheric, yet brooding touch. One can almost grasp the tension created here, before after about three minutes, singer Martin Nielskov enters the scene. The parallels between Converge and this band are quite obvious, starting with "I can't understand a single word he's screaming" and going over into "Screw the lyrics, the voice is pounding the emotions in the lyrics straight to my head.Like a jackhammer". The similarities don't end with the vocals. It's amazing how much noise a trio can create, how much energy they can transport, while still changing the face of a song in a matter of seconds. Guitarist Mikkel Vadstrup, Bassist Jeppe Skouv and Rasmus Sejersen on the drums at least are pretty good at it. One example: 'I Get Paralyzed' starts out very punk-like, straight forward. But after about the half of the song, the mood completely changes into something slow, melancholic and desperate.

These changes are more or less regular, which makes the description of individual songs very hard. With an average song length of roughly five minutes, there is a lot going on here. Chaos, agression and rage turn into desperation, melancholy and lack of perspective, to the point that one would guess all goes down into a giant suicidal rampage. The raw sound does it's own to support this overall feel of the songs. This is nothing you just listen to while doing stuff, taking into consideration who inspired the band, that was basically out of question from the start. In a way, 'Apnea' is a 56 minute struggle, with 'Not In My Time' being the ultimate climax and reward for enduring all that was thrown at the listener before. Very mellow guitar lines, clear vocals and an almost hopeful touch present the albums closer as a friendly pat on the back. The track has it's pace, and is nothing you would suggest to your grandma, but compared to the rest of the album: very quite and easy. This complete change of pace and style kinda marks the highlight of the whole album.

'Apnea' is a hard pill to swallow though. Everchanging songs, chaos, desperation, anger, despair and agression - you gotta love it to embrace it. If you're not up for this kind of music, this won't give you much, maybe nothing at all. But, if you like this type of music, you're in for quite bag full of suprises. Even after ten full spins you probably have not pinned down every detail of the songs, and will find new suprises and details you have not noticed before. Everyone who likes music that is not straight forward, should definately check this one out. Especially if you like the cited influences of the band.

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