We’ve featured Psython in the past, covering their first two releases Hatred. This latest album came out in December, but the band have been going through some lineup changes so the publicity machine has been off the rails a little for then, and they’re just getting back to giving it a push now.
Not that it needs much of one. The Last Days of the Good Times can pretty much stand on its own merits. It’s chaotic, abrasive, manic and quite addictive. Don’t expect an easy ride through this one as the more traditionally musical sections are countered with off-kilter insanity, featuring some interesting instruments and effects.
The amount they can cram into a three-ish minute track is amazing. And the majority of them thrash out of the speakers at a blistering pace. Take “Semantic Psychopath” for instance, with its early-days-of-thrash vocals, staccato guitars, thrumming bass and pounding drums. Somewhere in there is some good old Nuclear Assault that’s been fed through a big musical blender.
“When The Lights Go Out” is probably the closest to a “normal” track on the album, though it doesn’t suffer for it. It’s surprising how a track as heavy and thrashy can almost come as some kind of respite!
Mixing thrash, hardcore, punk, metal and an edge of industrial (with a definite urge to be experimental), Last Days is a belter of an album. On one hand it’s so old-school it’s familiar, on the other it’s radically different and original.
