IDEAS OF REFERENCE

This group is very talented, and their music is very complex, but it is completely unlisenable. The sound is obnoxious, and there is really nothing the listener can take from this. It is just a rampant series of riffs that seem to have no meaning beyond the complexity. These guys clearly have the ability to be something worthwhile, but they need to work on their songwriting. Psyopus's dexterity is on par with bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, arguably the starter of the Tech-Metal/Core movement, but the latter's music has way more dimentions than the former's. Sure, Dillinger's early work was very relentless, but besides the fact that is was unprecedented, the drums had a jazzy feel to somewhat attenuate the simultaneous chaos. Ideas of Reference just sound like incessant paroxysms channeled through instruments. It is noisy and unbearable. I admire their skills, but the way they use those skills is not a way that I can appreciate or recommend. I can tolerate similar music, but there must be something there beyond technicality.