I scored the best liquid LSD I've ever had in my life from a sketchy old man with a hound dog that looked like he'd lapped up the extra hits in the old man's lab. About 20 minutes after I absorbed seven hits into my eye, the world began to swirl and my mind began to search for a true meaning to life. The only thing that saved me from the realm of acid casualty was a couple of Grateful Dead bootlegs from the early '70s and a self-made compilation of Pink Floyd instrumentals from their Waters-helmed psychedelic era. If I had listened to the Psychic Paramount, I might have lived the rest of my life believing I was a plate of scrambled eggs.
The Psychic Paramount play a rich mix of the more violent side of Floydian instrumentals and spacey drone, with an underbelly of hammering drum beats. Gamelan into the Mink Supernatural captures the band laying down some of their jams for the first time in the studio, but it is hardly an attempt to dull edges. The studio is used as a tool to boost the band's sound to speaker-melting volumes.
"Megatherion," a vicious warped wall of layered backwards guitar and drum loops, opens the album and welcomes the listener to the funhouse. "Para5" sounds like Pink Floyd's "One of These Days," with a firecracker shoved up its ass. Its constantly shifting mood and method make it a more engaging listen than the Floyd song. The song begins as a straight-up psych-jam and explodes into a slide guitar-driven psych freakout. "Echoh Air" follows with a similar approach and a creepier rhythm.
"X-Bisitations" is a nine-and-a-half minute acid meltdown featuring Matthew Bower-esque effect drenched, amp-melting guitar. The song has almost an industrial vibe before a lovely guitar line breaks through. The two dueling sounds then form together to create sound that conjures oceanic imagery.
The band slips a little on the title track. Its initial pulsating post-rock rhythm doesn't meld well with the relentless, supercharged guitar attacks featured on the rest of the album. It comes off as a half-assed, follow-the-leader band practice. It is, however, engaging because on the song, as on the rest of the album, the band displays that they are a powerfully talented trio.
1. Megatherion
2. Para5
3. Echoh Air
4. X-bisitations
5. Gamelan into the mink Supernatural
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