Review by Saxy S for Psychotic Waltz - The God-Shaped Void (2020)

It has become seemingly more difficult every year to take progressive metal seriously. It seems as if every year, another group releases an album that is simply Dream Theater lite, is arbitrarily tossed into the "progressive metal" category and most people eat it up. I thought the term "progressive metal" was coined for a genre that wasn't normative or derivative; it was forward thinking.

So why are we stuck talking about Psychotic Waltz and their new album, The God-Shaped Void? This album is entirely dependent on nostalgia of other progressive metal records in order to maintain relevancy. Except that's not entirely true, Psychotic Waltz have apparently been around since the mid 1980s and The God-Shaped Void is their first studio release in almost twenty years. This isn't original or memorable outside of a couple of decent hooks on "The Fallen" and "Sisters of the Dawn".

It certainly isn't saved by production, which has the bass playing so softly that any momentum that this band is going for is muted, and not just because of the slow tempo choices. "While the Spiders Spin" is probably the only decent sounding instrumental, since it primarily employs alternate lead guitars and the bass is forced into pulling it own weight. The rest of the album is chugging guitar riffs that double the bass, rendering the low end mostly useless. Percussion is adequate and these vocals are very drawn out and tired. The implementation of flute during the second half is commendable, but the performance is weak. I understand why, but it would have sounded much better if someone knew how to mix properly.

I guess that this album has enough decent moments on it to make it slightly above average, but even then, I feel like I'm being generous.