If the first words out of your mouth when listening to this album aren’t “what the gosh darn bippity bop is this fucking shit?”, then you’re not listening to Chaos Motion‘s “Psychological Spasms Cacophony“. This album will make you question what music is, and what it can be. Now, there are a lot of “Technical Death Metal” bands out there, but many of them are children learning to swim in an ocean with the Apex Predator that is Chaos Motion.
As its name suggests, “Psychological Spasms Cacophony” is fucking nuts. The standard Technical DM tropes are here (i.e., jazz chords, odd time signatures) but Chaos Motion never seem to play the same riff twice, or a riff never seems to be played the same way twice. They also have song structures that would make Bjork shit herself. I’m impressed these guys can even remember how to play these songs. Although they do get lazy in “Vital Vision Void” and play the same riff four times in a row. What an outrage! Not three times or five times, but a commercially-accessible four times. Sell outs!
I don’t want all this praise to go to their heads, so I will list a few things I didn’t like: (1) the vocals are hit-and-miss, and (2) the drummer spends too much time sitting on the snare. There’s a common problem underlying both these issues. Given the guitar work is what would happen if you let Charlie Sheen, Trey Azagthoth, and Pat Metheny fuck each other, the drumming and vocals could’ve been a little more inventive.
“Psychological Spasms Cacophony” is a challenging listen. There’s no chance to get settled in with a good cup of tea and have a casual mid-afternoon headbang. There are very few 4/4 riffs here. In fact, you’ll be lucky if you can find the one. But, this album is unique.
Rating – 4.5/5
Accept the challenge.
https://chaosmotionband.bandcamp.com/album/psychological-spasms-cacophony-technical-death-metal
The Metal Wanderlust 