INFERNO — Psychic Distance (review)

INFERNO — Psychic Distance album cover Album · 1994 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Psychic Distance" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Jacksonville, Florida based progressive/thrash metal act Inferno. The album was released through Massacre Records in 1994. Inferno formed in 1988 and released the 1992 "Psychic" demo before being signed for the release of "Psychic Distance". They released the "Architect" demo in 1995 and folded sometime after. Five of the nine tracks on the 50:41 minutes long album are re-recorded demo tracks found on the 1992 "Psychic" demo.

Stylistically the material on "Psychic Distance" is an interesting combination of progressive metal and thrash metal. The tracks feature the aggression and sharp riffs from thrash metal, and the vocals are also occasionally a little raw (both staccato thrash metal vocals and the rare scream), but the music features a lot of progressive metal traits too, like melodic clean singing, harmony guitar work (often reminding me of Iron Maiden), acoustic guitar parts, complex song structures, innovative songwriting ideas, interesting rhythm patterns, and tempo changes. The band also occasionally use keyboards. It´s actually a bit hard to describe the music and make valid comparisons to other artists, but the late 80s/early 90s US and European technical power/thrash metal scenes produced some artists which feature some of the same elements that Inferno present here. So it´s probably fans of those scenes who should find this enjoyable (fans of artists like Anacrusis, Depressive Age, End Amen, and Deathrow). When the band are most atmospheric and don´t play distorted guitar parts I actually hear a pretty obvious Rush influence too (listen to the atmospheric parts on "Cloaks" for proof of that).

"Psychic Distance" features a well sounding production job, although it´s slightly subdued keeping in mind that many of these riffs are relatively aggressive thrash metal riffs, which could probably have prospered from a more sharp guitar tone, but it still works pretty well, and "Psychic Distance" is overall a well produced release.

Upon conclusion "Psychic Distance" is an album I find more interesting than great. The tracks are relatively accessible but not particularly memorable, and it´s definitely in the hook writing department that the band are lacking something. They are arguably high level musicians, capable of playing many different styles, but there´s still something a bit awkward about their performances (mostly the vocals), which makes the album a less enjoyable listen than it could have been. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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