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Screw the mainstream if you really want to get your rocks off you have to go to the underground. That's just what we plan to do with this series, take some of the best emerging bands that are out blowing away hardcore fans on the underground music scene. 

Psychaesthetic - Infinities End
Rating: 
 

Philadelphia's Psychaesthetic (which will henceforth be referred to by the highly creative "PA") is a very different band for me to review here at antiMUSIC. While most of my reviews have featured artists in the hardcore/metal genres, with a few art-rockers here and there, I have not yet reviewed an industrial act. The band caught my interest when it was posted up for review, as I am just starting to be more then slightly intrigued by the electronica genre, and beyond that, the band's synth player is none other then antiMUSIC's very own Brad Podray.

Formed fairly recently in Philadelphia, Brad joined with guitarist Tom Notari and vocalist Kyle McGee to spawn the electronic act. After two years of feeling the waters, the band released Infinites End after getting to know each other's playing styles and ideas for  what the band should sound like.

The CD kicks off with the bouncy "Hedon." It swirls in with some awesome layered effects, and McGee's vocals reminded me why I found electronica bands so interesting in the first place recently. "Talion" jots in with some echoing percussions and then some nice industrial beats and a driving, distorted riff or two. Some weird effect sound almost orchestrated like violins as the vocals twist in and out with that classic Industrial anguish. Later on Notari closes with some riffs that cascade all over the place and the song ends without warning, leaving you craving more. 

"A Polemic" is a more conventionally based song. It features less on the electronica end of the spectrum and more on the rock end of things. The song goes from brooding guitars to driving rhythms with a subtle industrial undertone. This song rules. 

"Minefield" has one of those sputtering vocal effects and stop-start riffs that are every bit as sudden as the song's title might suggest; the electronics are so well-layered this track that the on-off guitar are like stepping on mines that explode without any hint that they're there. This song reminds me of what little KMFDM I've had the luck to hear. 

"Aura" has crystaline beats and swirls that sound like a more introverted (if possible) Postal Service. The guitar next slithers in with a slow crescendo of old-school metal schooling. One of the best instrumentals I have yet heard in this genre. 

"The Rains" is factory made industrial that just plain rules. "Rising" has McGee doing some sinister whisperings as his fellow bandmates swirl their synth and guitars into a cohesive mix of jingling electronica. 

"Sensory Tide" has a conventional guitar intro that soon is overtaken into a duel with some excellent percussion. "Navsea" manages to sound watery yet icy at the same time, as beats and rhythms maelstrom around one another before solidifying into another awesome backbeat for those great vocals. 

"Viral Sunrise" is an electronica heavy song that is pretty spooky in that good old Orgy kind of way perhaps. "The Binary Age" closes things with some more bouncy, robotic, and damn smooth electronica/industrial.

This CD was a strange one for me. As I said earlier, my recent flirtation with industrial is fairly small and brief....however, Psychaesthetic should be listenable to all kinds of music fans. Those robotic and monotone beats are littered with random riffs and effects that should make both fans of the genre and noobs like myself happy. The lyrics are awesome, and like many acts I have heard in this style, take on an almost mechanical overtone ("The Future is a number stored in my mind"). 

All in all, I would for sure recommend it to people looking for something catchy yet, in typical fashion of this website, ANTI. It is every bit as fun to rave to or DDR to, as typical industrial stereotypes might suggest, but there is much more then a dancefloor beat on this CD. I already am excited about another one.

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