PsychoBliss-"The Escape of the Dead" Video Single

Self-Release/Independent Release
2013

Given my distaste for PsychoBliss' "Dreams of Dystopia" EP I was surprised to find a rather tasteful reply to the review from PsychoBliss themselves. In fact they agreed that the release had received mixed reviews and that their new material, this "The Escape of the Dead" video single, was much more representative of what the band hoped to achieve sound-wise. While I expected the worst I nonetheless followed up with the band and checked out this new single for myself which, if you are at all the least bit curious, you can find below. As a side-note you can also read my original review of the group's EP below as well. Anyway, for those out there who did not read my previous review of said EP then here is a little run-down of the group.

Hailing from Chicago originally the band now calls Phoenix, Arizona their home. The group is made up of Dan Stollings (guitars, bass and drum programing) and Kyla Pavelski (vocals) with this new single also featuring Kevin Sheely on lead guitar. Musically the group's sound (at least on the "Dreams of Dystopia" EP)
was a combination of gothic, dark metal and bleak black metal. On paper that sounded fine, but the execution left a lot to be desired. That being the case and all, this new single (with a run-time of over 7 minutes!) makes me wonder what exactly happened between "Dreams of Dystopia" and now? It's a case of night and day or the good and the bad. "The Escape of the Dead", which is lyrically influenced by the 1917 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, "A Princess of Mars", still caries the group's bleak message, but the improvement is almost supernatural in nature! In a nutshell what the band was trying for on their previous EP they achieved here and it certainly sounds as if the band took the constructive criticism they had received and set out to right some wrongs. PsychoBliss still adheres to a dark and dismal mentality although the musical landscape seems much fully and, even by black metal standards, richer. Let's give out warnings ahead of time though and say that this is not for your lily dilly kind of metalhead. No, this is slow and painful (in a pleasant way) death rock that points towards much bigger and better things from the group. Should they choose to walk this path moving forward then I could easily see PsychoBliss garnering label interest. Black metal is still in demand after all with female-fronted black metal still an untapped genre. While I listened in on this track through YouTube, the Metal Archives mentions that "The Escape of the Dead" was released on two compilations. These are IFLHM.com's "Best of the Underground Vol. 1" and Tridroid Records "Nekro Hymns Vol. 1" To find out more about the group (and this much-improved new sound of theirs!) be sure to check out their Facebook page below.


 https://www.facebook.com/PsychoBliss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj5UjHgA3gw

http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2013/05/psychobliss-dreams-of-dystopia.html