If legendary musicians were born today, what would they pursue? Would Buddy Rich attempt to create the fastest blast beats, rivaling even those of drum machines? Would Jimi Hendrix attempt to front a metal band and shred like none other? Would Bach sit behind a computer composing epic masterpieces for ravers to "roll" to? Most "musical legends" had no problem with showing off their talent on the stage, although "rock champions" such as Van Halen take this to a ground breaking level of moldy cheesiness. Somehow this is going to segue into Psyopus and their Ideas of Reference, which will happen by my typing these random letters and numbers:
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In a sense Ideas of Reference can be exemplified by listening to the first track on the album, "Mork And Mindy (Day Dream Lover)". As listeners, we are greeted with an incoming eruption of chord manipulations that explode with a very clean finger tapping solo. While we attempt to understand what we were just thrown into, by brute force, we are launched into a battlefield of what sounds like pandemonium. After a minute more of this we realize that there is no real chaos, but instead, a very technically fought assault. The sound constantly evolves, eventually leading us to a jazz influenced drop, where guitar notes bounce around juggling bass harmonics as drum beats sputter in to keep it from resembling anything too cohesive. Of course this is all done with irregular timings, more time changes than Daylight Savings times infinity, and it's all over the place like a really large person in a small house. This is in fact the most chaotic/technical album I have ever heard, definitely pushing the barbed wire boundaries of "tech metal". The guitars are the definite highlight, but props are given to any bassist and drummer that can keep up with this madness. Guitar was made plural even though there is only one guitarist because he recorded more than one track for the album. Just like any type of singing that is different than what you've heard before, the screaming won't be that easy to stomach at first, kind of like Mexican tap water. But once you drink enough, the parasites become a part of your digestive system. The vocals mostly have a shrieking quality to them but occasionally dip into the lower spectrum of things.
When your pupils begin to dilate and sense begins to be made, halfway through "Mirrorism" Psyopus fakes you out with a false ending a few times with sputters of finger tapping penetrations. Although there are exceptions, Psyopus does not create a heavy sound with palm muting and drop tuning, but without restrictions of verse-breakdown-verse-breakdown-verse mediocrity they replace any expectations with pure insanity. The lack of sanity becomes clearly evident in "Imogen's Puzzle", two minutes of jazzy guitar/bass sounds illuminated by a sample of people screaming and fires burning. This is what it would sound like if Django Reinhardt decided to rape and pillage.
So yeah, I'm sure some people say, "These guys are crazy, but sometimes it's over done." But man, some people will also say cocaine isn't medicinal. Some people like fancy stuff and some don't. Those that don't mind something that is a little out there and requires tons of talent should rock this boat. It's a hundred times more listenable than Orthrelm. If any of you rock the six string, at least check Ideas of Reference out due to the guitarist's talent.
