Review Summary: Extremely ambitious, dark, and arguably their crowning achievement.
Coming off the back of
Icon of the Adversary, it’s clear Psyclon Nine had a very lucid vision for
Less to Heaven. Like its predecessor,
Less to Heaven is a pretty vast departure from
[Order of the Shadow: Act I], which was the sonic equivalent to sitting in an industrial waste tank while Nero shot M60s and threw grenades down it. However, since 2018, Nero’s new chapter with the band feels far more reposed, methodical, and drenched in atmosphere. For some, they could argue that the band have gone a little too far in that direction, since this new album lacks a lot of the immediate brutality from their other black-industrial works, but as you'll discover, there's more here than meets the eye. As with
Icon of the Adversary, this album hones in on a sound best described as psychological horror, and it’s with this theme where we see some of the band’s most career-defining moments. The production in particular is nothing short of stellar, and it’s clearly something Nero has pondered over as much as the songwriting itself, allowing him to have some fun at the expense of the listener. For example, when I first heard the opening to ‘The Poison Will Deaden the Pain’, I was left with pretty extreme discomfort from its production f*ckery, opening up with electronics that move along from left to right. The execution is done in a way to completely throw you off; while the electronics dart over to one ear, they abruptly cut off the sound in the other, leaving you feeling an imbalance in your brain – essentially making you feel like someone is in your head or you’re losing your mind. Another greatly disturbing quality is Nero’s haunting croons that make you feel like you’ve got schizophrenia, or you’re being stalked while you explore this very descriptive brace of soundscapes.
It’s the little moments here that make
Less to Heaven the big stand out achievement it is. Overall, the album feels like a very vivid fever dream with an excellent selection of heavy hues to choose from in between the cold sweats. ‘Money and Sex and Death’ is almost a red herring, in that it perfectly displays Psyclon Nine’s MO and gives the fans exactly what they want, but at the same time, while it isn’t subversion to the fullest, there aren’t many songs on here that sound like that. However, at this point it should be obvious that the overt heaviness isn’t the focal point, and for reasons we’ll get into, there’s a bloody good reason for that. After getting through the EBM pumping ‘Off with Their Heads’, and ghastly bangers ‘See You All in Hell’ and ‘Money and Sex and Death’, you’ll be slowly introduced to moments of beauty, and flourishes of melody. ‘X’s on Her Eyes’ hears Nero trying his hand at clean vocals, before segueing into the usual industrial explosion, but as the album moves along you’ll start to see the band going all in on this new, ethereal, lush sound. In particular, ‘APRÉS MOI LE DÉLUGE’ and ‘Blood Out’ are the main events for sure – a pair of tracks that feel akin to each other. The former is an absolutely gorgeous instrumental of poignant synths with an amazing crescendo halfway through, while Nero continues to veer away from his signature shrill to lay down some excellently executed clean vocals for the album’s closing number.
[Order of the Shadow: Act I] is my favourite album by Psyclon Nine, but on a good day this new record could overtake it.
Icon of the Adversary was an excellent return for the band, but this album feels like it takes that album’s concept and refines it to perfection. At only thirty-eight minutes, it’s also a very breezy and accessible listen if you’re just looking for a quick album to listen to. Do I have any criticisms? ‘Blood In’ feels a little pointless. Apart from that,
Less to Heaven is an astonishing achievement that has plenty of clever production tricks up its sleeve, in line with the psychological theme, the heavy songs maintain the usual, fantastic standards we’ve come to expect from the band, and the melodic elements added here just put the band on another level from other bands in the scene at the minute. In short: go listen to it now.
