Saturday, 2 February 2013

Psycho
Praxis began life in Brescia in 2004 but it wasn't until 2011 that
the current line up featuring Andrea Calzoni (vocals, flute), Paolo
Vacchelli (guitars), Paolo Tognazzi (keyboards), Matteo Marini (bass)
and Matteo Tognazzi (drums) was completed. In 2012 they released an
interesting debut album on the independent label Black Widow Records,
“Echoes From The Deep”, managing to mix vintage sounds and new
ideas with excellent results. Well, the legacy of bands such as Pink
Floyd, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple or
Biglietto per l'Inferno weighs heavily on the overall sound but
there's no plagiarism and the song-writing skills of Psycho Praxis
are pretty good. According to an interview with the band “Echoes
From The Deep” is a concept album about a passage from an emotional
state to another and the art work by Michele Armiento in some way
depicts the content of the music and lyrics.

The
frenzied opener “Privileged Station” conjures up the vision of
people running downhill chased from their paradise by a whimsical God
that is observing them rubbing his hands. But some people is going
against the tide and hiding their sins they manage to reach a
privileged station in a free zone, soon followed by other rebels...
Well, this track makes me think of a poem by Charles Baudelaire from
his Flowers of Evil...“Race
de Caïn,
au ciel monte / Et sur la terre jette dieu!”.

The
following “P.S.M.” begins softly, with acoustic guitar and a
touch of organ. The vocals draw the image of an inmate who is waiting
for the hangman in his cell. The atmosphere is dark, there's no room
for hope any more, even the afterlife seems unhappy... “The master
comes again / He grips his long staff / It's a hand of glass...”.
Then the soul of the inmate comes out of the body and stares at the
gallows pole where the corpse is still dangling...

“Hoodlums”
recalls Pink Floyd and takes you to the dark side of the moon. The
lyrics conjure up some lost memories in a snowy winter morning. A
child looks at a bunch of rascals who are passing by... “Come with
us where the sun is shining / Leave your tools and have some days...
“. The child heeds their calls, he follows them and throws away his
life.

The
reflective, melancholic “Black Crow” is a kind of desperate
glance into the falsity of a world that behind the window of your
room seems no more real than on the screen of your TV. The music and
lyrics depict a lonely man and a crow with a human face while reality
and unreality are blurred... “My dear bird, now I see you ripping
the sounds, eating the news / Through your screams that cover all
sounds / I recognize the sweetness of the world...”.

The
excellent, lively instrumental “Awareness” takes you out of the
dark and leads the conclusive “Noon” which describes in music and
lyrics the spiritual rebirth of a man after a troubled period. The
crow becomes an eagle and the new soul can now hunt after a new
being...

Well,
to be honest I think that the concept is a bit foggy. Moreover, the
band chose to sing in English and the vocals are not always clear,
every now and again they sound even awkward. Maybe if Psycho Praxis
would have sung in their native language the result would have been
better... Anyway the music is really good and this album deserves a
try!

Psycho
Praxis: Echoes From The Deep (2012). Other opinions:

Michael "Aussie-Byrd-Brother": The ferocious energy and surging power on display throughout this debut album by new Italian
band Psycho Praxis shows so much variety and highly promising talent that it's already drawing a
lot of attention in the short time since it's release in November 2012. In addition to a kicking electric
energy and frequently manic vocal delivery, the swirling flute crosses English band Jethro Tull with
Italy's Quella Vecchia Locanda and Osanna, while the dirty organ/guitar interplay bridges Atomic
Rooster with a rough Biglietto Per L'inferno RPI sound. This mixture of influences in addition to the
use of English (though charmingly accented) vocals seems to be an attempt by the band to appeal
to a world-wide audience, and there's no reason to think it won't happen on the strength of this
magnificent first album... (read the complete review HERE).