I suppose if one was trying to assign literal meaning to the band name Neurotic Mirage, it would be something along the lines of: Mentally deranged illusion…or…unstable hallucination…or perhaps…high strung apparition…you get the idea. Whatever the case, the group is about to release a new full-length in May, and both the band name and the album title (Psycho Carnival) fit the sound profile. In fact, I’d go one step further and add that those descriptors also fit the terribly messy delivery of the song files to SDP for review, but that’s another story for another day. On that point, let me just say that meta data is always much appreciated (directed to all bands).
With the initial download chaos and the imagery the band name conjures up, I felt like I was prepared in advance for the type of sound I was about to take in. My guess…something chaotic, intentionally wild, and unconventional. Psycho Carnival is most certainly all of those things, but it took a few minutes to reveal as much. The song that loaded first was titled Infinity. It begins with a subdued rim shot drum groove and a question, “When did I become too old to be young?” The sound is immediately comparable to Blink182 in almost every aspect including instrumentation, vocal tone, and melody choice. To solidify this thought, the first verse finishes with a few “nah-na-na-nah na’s” and one cannot deny the resemblance to All the Small Things. At 0:40, distorted palm muted guitars kick in and just as the song seems to be building into something more explosive it tapers back down and closes out leaving much to be desired.
To follow, the second song that queued up titled California’s Overrated took the already low energy level down another notch with a slow acoustic guitar driven progression. The dreamy ambient background synth tones and somewhat droning vocals brought me to the point of questioning why this album was even submitted to SDP for review as well as whether I was going to be able to tolerate continuing to listen. Two minutes later however, something happened. There was a paradigm shift, and things started to get a little more interesting. Some metal guitars began chugging away on a riff that borrows from Cherub Rock by the Smashing Pumpkins. Against some pounding tom accents, the song drops into a heavy double-kick-laden crescendo that garnered just enough attention grabbing magic to keep me on board for another song… which ultimately I was glad for.
Feeling You Out popped on next, and it was in this moment that I really started to sense the sonic foundation of Neurotic Mirage. The tempo and energy level comes way up on this track as the band puts together a manic display of great thrashy guitar riffs over constantly shifting and hard hitting drum beats. While the vocals stay simple and repetitive, the melody is catchy, and a rather strange comparison came to my mind. Allow me to digress for a moment: One of my current favorite bands is Such Gold. On one of their ep’s, they have a song titled Stained Glass Brain. At 1:50 of said song, there is an instrumental dump and a quirky vocal moment that is saturated with effects. If you happen to be familiar with this song, I would say that the vocals on Neurotic Mirage very much remind me of this moment in Such Gold’s track…but in perpetuity. With this very subtle and distant, self-made association, I found myself suddenly more connected…to the point of listening to Psycho Carnival from top to bottom…albeit in no official sequence due to the absence of meta data [sorry guys, I couldn’t resist one more dig :-)]
In doing exactly that, I fell under the band’s hypnosis. While the heavily auto-tuned Mark Hopper-esque vocals (drenched with harmonies) floated through a turbulent sea of metal guitars, dense double-kick drum, and wild groove changes, I was pulled in multiple directions with thoughts that posed many contradictions. As an example, one moment I would be somewhat peeved by the overabundance of double kick blasting through the mix, but the next I would be internally praising the band’s metal tendencies. In other moments, I’d be wishing the band would settle into a steady groove instead of constantly changing things up, but simultaneously I would be admiring their willingness to just go haywire! Often times, and as I mentioned earlier, the vocals struck me as droning, yet they still put me into a welcome trance. The elements tied up in Psycho Carnival range from blatant rip-off material to pure left-field originality and all of it collectively comes together for a full-length that I have been tripping out on for a few days now on repeat. This is an important point. As much as I have called out this band for petty things such as a sloppy submission, or using borrowed material (something all bands are guilty of), at the end of the day, Neurotic Mirage have created an album that prompted me to want to listen more than once. That speaks volumes as I sincerely cannot say that for every band.
For fans of putting the following into a blender: punk, metal, HUM, Blink182, Animals as Leaders, Mock Orange, spit, and a dash of your preferred liquor!
3 out of 5 SDP Skullz
Artist: Neurotic Mirage
Album: Psycho Carnival
Label: N/A
Release Date: May 5th, 2019
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Reviewed by Todd Dulawan
