Our Bargain Bin girl!
“The Bargain Bin will be a weekly column written by Cashlyn in which she dives into the $1-5 section of Sonic Boom where the fantastical meets the terrible. It’ll be her job to sort through the bunch and discover the wonderful things a couple of bucks can get you!” – The Singing Lamb
Album: We Love You All
Artist: Psykup
Cost: $0.95
I have to admit when I first got this CD, I immediately went against all-known advice and judged it by its cover. Here’s the cover:
I think the cover is super cool. I had no idea what this album had in store, but I was immediately excited to find out.
When I put on the album, I saw that the back claims that Psykup has a “personal and original approach to metal.” I got more excited.
I have to say that Psykup has done what a lot of recent metal bands fail to do; set themselves apart from a generic sound. Let’s just say that when their first song “Colour Me Blood Red,” started with metal riffs and deep growls, I did not foresee it ending how it does; a harmony with no instrumentals. In fact, some parts of their songs are downright danceable.
Psykup incorporates singing and harmonizing with screaming, shrieking, and metal growls. Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking that sounds very Alexisonfire-esque. Just let me be clear; these guys sound nothing like Alexisonfire. Their different sounds do not often overlap like Dallas Green’s harmonies and George Pettit’s screams. Although when they do, it’s generally well done.
Instead, Psykup changes the tempos of their songs often. In a sense this is necessary, because I mean their songs do average 9 minutes long. But I guess it all works together to make their style.
Psykup also uses a variety of other resources to make their songs unique. In addition to the dramatic change in guitar and voice, they also incorporate random (yet appropriate) noises into the background of some of their songs. In “My Toy My Satan” they also use clips from the movie Dogma; appropriate given that the song focuses on religion as a cause for war. It sounds pretty cool.
I think part of what makes this band stand apart from many others is that they formed in 1995. You can really hear the influence of late 80s/90s metal in their songs, but it’s been supercharged for a more modern version.
When listening to “We Love You All” I was reminded of everything from Alice in Chains to System of a Down, The Deftones to Billy Talent, Lamb of God to Metallica (in a good way), some things that I just can’t put my finger on, and some things that are entirely unique. It’s a really effective way to avoid redundancy; a trap too many metal bands tragically fall into.
Psykup hails from Toulouse, France, although the lyrics on this album (the 5th released under the name Psykup…although several others are listed under their discography) are entirely in English. Although they have yet to hit the big-time, critics have received their latest work well, and although their YouTube videos don’t have record hits and comments, the ones that were left behind are overwhelmingly positive.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this band. It took me back to the days where all I listened to was metal (I know you know those days), and reminded me that well-done metal is still a pleasant listening experience. In fact, I’ve been re-discovering a lot of the bands I used to listen to since I listened to this album. I also added it to my iTunes for my future listening pleasure.
Verdict: Worth your pocket change.
By Cashlyn Teggart
