AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PESSIMYSTIC — “BURNT OFFERING”

Pessimystic is a clever name for a band, one that amalgamates two concepts or themes that will be familiar to adherents of extreme metal. It was chosen by a trio of musicians from Ottawa who first came together only this year, though the writing process and general concept originated in 2022. They played their first show only in September, opening for Sunless and Thantifaxath, a couple of very good groups to share a stage with.

What we have for you today is a premiere stream of the first public recording of Pessimystic, an EP named Burnt Offering that will be released on November 24th. It’s described as “an apotropaic oblation of self-surrender through self-destruction and unity through detachment”, and conceptually it “contemplates divine retribution and conjures the apocalyptic imagery enshrined in the human psyche.” Pessimystic indeed.

L- R – Nic (Bass) | Ryan (Guitars and Vocals) | Mat (Drums)
Photo Credit: Melissa Krakana

In keeping with those harrowing themes described in the quotations, the five songs on Burnt Offering deploy an amalgam of death and black metal that’s often violently chaotic and calamitous, but the music is also stunningly inventive, remarkably intricate, executed with eye-popping technical skill, and boasting vocals that are as deranged in their intensity as anything else you’re likely to find this year (or most years).

As a preview of the EP the band released a lyric video for the title song, which comes third in the running order. Consistent with its title, the song’s lyrics are full of Old Testament fanatacism — the narrator’s vow to destroy pagan worshipers of “false gods”, to make them (and himself) burnt offerings to his own vision of divinity, to sacrifice both them and himself as a sign of limitless devotion.

As we’ve already previewed, the expression of the words in the song could hardly be more perfect. The bellowing roars, hair-raising screams, and unhinged yells are themselves fanatical, burning with extreme passion. And as for the music, it’s astounding — incredibly complex but unmistakably wild, dissonant and shrill, fiery and frenzied, matched by drumming and cymbal work that’s often just as startling, and subtle but vital bass lines.

The music warps as it goes, with the convoluted writhing of the guitars taking a darker and more demented turn, and then seeming to contort in agony just before a glorious guitar solo and a final surge of exhilarating and exultant extravagance.

Perhaps unexpectedly, but for all its rapidly changing and often bizarre motifs, the song also turns out to be an infectious one.

It wouldn’t be out of place at all to term that experience “extreme avant-garde metal”, of a particularly blood-rushing kind. In the lead-up to the EP’s release Pessimystic followed it with “Crystalline“, a song that also happens to follow “Burnt Offering” in the running order.

It’s also marvelously twisted and defiantly dissonant, but more unsettling and unnerving. The music yowls and brays, screeches and moans, seeming to channel confusion and agony, fatal illness and feverish seizures. The vocals are again every bit as unhinged as before, and the variations in the drumming are, again, riveting.

As you listen to the EP in the full stream below, you’ll encounter two other songs that precede those two, “Conquer the Pantheon” and “Visions“. Not surprisingly, based on what you’ve already heard, both of them are dazzling.

The timbre of the riffing again straddles lines between gritty abrasion and searing clarity, and the elaborate maneuvering of the fretwork is mad and marauding but technically jaw-dropping. We’ve already made the point that the rhythm section of drummer Mat and bassist Nic are every bit as talented and kaleidoscopic in their performances as guitarist Ryan, and a continuing factor in keeping listeners’ hearts pounding.

And as before, it’s hard to overstate the spectacular raw intensity of Ryan‘s vocals, driven to the greatest heights of intensity when the differing dimensions of frightening harshness (and something close to singing) are layered together to make shattering choirs of pain and fury, especially in “Visions“.

The EP closer “Omnipresent Malevolence” is really more of the same, which is to say it’s another head-spinner and mind-mutilator. It has moments that come across as dismal, forlorn, and strangely hallucinatory, but it also flies like darting swallows in turbulent winds and batters like an out-of-control avalanche.

Lyrically, however, the song marks a big change. The four preceding songs could be taken as the words of ancient biblical prophets, swearing their allegiance, ready to give all and do all in service on The One True God. But in this last song the narrator has awakened to the understanding that his God causes the righteous to perish in their suffering, smites the steadfast and the blameless, doles out punishment disproportionate to love — “Your apparent benevolence countenance / Ominpresent malevolence” — and it has left him hateful and furious.

Well, you can tell how tremendously impressed this writer is, having found here in late November one of the most breathtaking debuts of the year. Hope you’re equally excited by it.

 

 

Burnt Offering was produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Topon Das from Apartment 2 Recording Studio (Fuck the Facts, Deformatory, Eclipser). It features striking cover art by Misanthropic-Art, described as “an original piece inspired by Ezekiel 1”, but “instead of a vision of God’s glory, the image represents God’s judgment”.

The EP is available for pre-order now, on CD and digital formats.

PRE-ORDER:
https://pessimysticofficial.bandcamp.com/album/burnt-offering

FOLLOW PESSIMYSTIC:
http://facebook.com/pessimysticOfficial