PSYCHOPATH
– the ass-soul of psycho-path
(CD/download,
Moon Lee)
One thing first: this cover is amon the worst I have
seen in a long time. If I had seen this in a shop no amount of praise by any
friend of trusted person would have made me buy it or even listen to it. If
I owned I shop, I would think about not carrying it. Not because I find it
disturbing or sexist or degrading to the women of the world, no, maybe not
even because I would find it tasteless. That is all true, even if in another
sense than you might think right now, but the true reasons is the knife
sticking in the girls ass, which looks like a stupid joke somebody has put
on top to get a cheap laugh – and that I find so very dumb. Without that
knife the whole thing would be different, probably even interesting.
Because, I give them that much, a lot of nice design work has been put into
the cover and artwork. From the photoshooting (all credits included, even
the shoes!) to the way the title are hidden in the cover printing.
But that dumb joke draws the whole thing down to a
level of humour, where belching the alphabet is supposed to be funny. And
that level is not something I am looking for in music. So, to make this
absolutely clear, I have no problem at all with bondage photography or nude
women on covers, even the puddle of blood is probably okay, because it adds
something else, but this breadknife in the bound girls ass is just a stupid
joke and I don’t want to waste my time with stupid jokes.
Now, why do I? Everybody knows by now that I usually
don’t write about records I don’t like, because I regard negative
reviews as a waste of time. My time, to be more specific, and since time is
probably the only thing I really miss out on, I have made this rule of not
writing about music I don’t like. Which gives away the answer: “the ass
soul of psycho path” is not half bad. It is alternative rock with a female
singer that punches at the right times and holds back at other right times.
It is not metal nor is it punkrock, but good old alternative rock that looks
and sounds good. The production is really good, with full and dense guitars
and clean, crisp sounds that make the whole album sound very deep and rich.
Even if it is actually quite straight forward.
The voice of singer Melée is especially intriguing.
She manages to change between rough rock chick singing and hurt sensitivity
immediately, but mostly she has a full range. I have a long list of rock
bands with female singers with great voices – Concrete Blonde, Tilt, Made
out of babies – and Psychopath has something in common with all of them.
Does anybody remember a band called Nymphs from Los Angeles? When I was
younger I used to like them, but nobody except me seemed to have ever known
them. I think they also ever only released one album and then disbanded.
Quite the opposite is psychopath, who have already five records in their
sack.
Musically, most of the songs are mid-paced, which gives
the rock songs a nice, full edge. Speeding up is usually a mistake of young
bands without experience. Their main theme seems to be sex and blood, two
symbols which crop up almost everywhere and in every song. From the directly
named “Goddamn cocksuckers”, a slow cruncher of a song, to the royal
“new Blood”. Highlights are the strangely pounding “Lobo, you are
crazy” and the epic “Bekkington”, which make the album not only good
for hanging out and drinking beer, but also something worthwhile for those
who like to listen more closely.
