Paroxysmal Descent "Paradigm Of Decay" CD

jewelcase with transparent tray, 8-pages booklet reissue, remastered, limited 300

Listening to how this disk sounds – the production, the guitar tones used and the balancing between instruments makes me think of days past where certain studios and scenes delivered a certain sound. With the proliferation of home recording the number of “sounds” has multiplied. With each amateur producer/engineer literally creating their own unique sound. It’s a positive development because it offers a greater variety of experience when delving into extreme music.

Paroxysmal’s first album has a very good production. I mean I can hear, this wasn’t done at Unisound or anything remotely approaching it, but on the other hand the production is something different. The guitar tone here is very interesting – extremely thin and jangly, yet coarsely distorted somewhere in the background with lower chords groaning menacingly when used in the arrangement. The drums sound miked as opposed to triggered – resulting in the characteristic organic plodding rather than the doctored clicking sound.

The music is that sad, downcast and introspective dirge that Abyssic Hate blessed us with on Suicidal Emotions. This influence shines through in some aspects of this recording, but overall, there is much more to Paroxysmal than just that one release. I think it might have been something of a starting point though. The songs are extended, but not unnecessarily drawn-out compositions, the longest here “Beyond the Threshold” being 7 and a half minutes. There is some more of that strobing double-kick work here with up-tempo tremolo riffing thrown over the top that one would have heard on the Misanthropia demo. It made me think that this was a re-worked track in fact, but not so. It must have simply been composed around the same dynamic framework. In general, the album displays some pleasing elaboration on the already excellent demo with painfully sad interludes breaking up the numbing atmospheric structures and bursts of blasts and up-tempo rock beats. It’s a very pleasing listen, even though the underlying music is extremely depressing. It produces that same manic depressant feeling as did the old Bethlehem and the Silencer album. The artiste also pulls out a few unusual tricks: the use of clear electric piano, and a power-electronics/black ambient track, which by the way is a very compelling listen. It’s quite minimalist, but after a few spins has really grown on me, its seeping drones ringing out sadly in the black silence.

Great new band – check them out.

Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=WYp54oImP9k