Psionic Madness is an underground supergroup featuring prolific musicians Jared Moran, Nicholas Turner and Justin Vølus. All three have collaborated with each other on multiple projects yet Mortality Salience is the first time that they all find themselves on the same release. Though they are all multi-instrumentalists, the roles are clearly defined with Jared handling the drums, Nicholas on guitars and bass, and Justin doing vocals as well as being the lyricist.
Psionic Madness opts for a more melodic approach than what would be expected from such a trio despite the dissonant riffs and the blast beat heavy patterns. This is due to the compositions being determined by a handful of short melodies that generally function in pairs. “Grotesque Laughter Consumes” illustrates this well as the beginning of the song alternates between a slow chugging riff and “power chords into tremolo” riff that build up to a third riff that accumulates tension before exploding into a satisfying climax. Leads float on top of the riffs during the tension building parts which instil a brief sense of calm before the final storm. “Cathartic Suicide Denied” demonstrates this by introducing a riff and only adding the lead melody on the third time the riff is played. This strengthens the melodic character of the songs and adds a sense of progression to avoid the songs from feeling static. There is a large variety of tempi and rhythms present on the album. The transitions between them are sudden yet surprisingly not jarring as there is a natural flow to the riff changes that takes these songs logically to their conclusion. The contrasts highlight each riff and help avoid the fatigue that is such a common issue with many dissonance based bands. “Sanity.. a Euclidean Prison” emphasizes this concept halfway through its running time as an abrasive and fast paced riff directly segues into a slow dirge that contextualizes each part in the whole and more importantly makes each riff more memorable.
The drumming is extremely nuanced and has no qualms with embracing minimalist patterns when needed or even entirely disregarding a fixed pattern to accentuate the riffs with well placed snare hits and short fills. When needed, Jared blasts away with quick and precise double bass work. Multiple variations of blast beats are used here to accompany the movements of the songs. The lack of samples and overt use of compression create as full sounding kit that give the production a lot of weight without resorting to lo-fi tricks. Vølus primarily relies on a deep growl that closely matches the rhythm of the underlying music and does well in maintaining a consistent tone during the fast parts. There are some very well executed shifts in pitch on “Mephitic Abbatoir” that add tension before the absolute chaos that ensues. Brutal Death metal stylings are used as background noise to evoke putrefying cadavers. The high pitch screams create unease and to counter the barrage of deep vocals and to avoid the monotony that can arise from an abundance of very low pitched growls.
Mortality Salience offers a divergent take on a sub-genre that has been codified for far too long. By making short and memorable songs that embrace narrative structures and forego any unnecessary fluff, Psionic Madness imbue their music with a sense of purpose that takes disparate dissonant riffs and molds them into a story of inevitable death.
