Sign of Evil – Psychodelic Horror

Label: Edged Circle Productions
Release date: 27-03-2020

When something starts out, it’s all full of promise. It’s new and has the potential to be many things. Take Sign of Evil’s Psychodelic Horror, for example. It’s an EP by a one-man project, advertised as playing “horror black/speed metal from Chile.”

Start up and you are filled with excitement. The odd, disorienting guitar tone is wonderfully twisted and quirky, the d-beat hits hard, the bass plods along all mean and sharp and the vocals, death growls with bite, decorate the macabre, fun little ditty that opens the EP.

…and that’s the peak point of Psychedelic Horror.

The rest is rigmarole. See, the problem with Psychodelic Horror is that Sign of Evil is a one-trick pony of the worst goddamn kind. Listen to the first song, Death Will Rise and the intro to Guilty and you will have heard everything that this EP has to, or will ever offer.

Without variation, this is what this little EP does: a d-beat laid under (with a dogged persistence that would put Mammoth Grinder to shame) under dissonant, detuned, supposedly spooky guitars that are nothing but utterly wasted potential, same death metalish riffs and this guy just intermittently growling. There is no variation, the guitar sound that was exciting quickly becomes an annoying, mind-numbing buzz and as quickly as the excitement began, it crashes and burns.

While that is going on, the supposedly “raw” production and double guitars panned left and right steamroll over whatever melody is supposed to be there and plunges everything into a sharp, annoying mess.

As it stands, the only thing Psychodelic Horror has going for it is that it is short; but, at 12 minutes, it is still 10 minutes too long. This EP is a wasted potential. Not recommended.

Line-Up:
Camilo Pierattini – music and lyrics

01. Death Will Rise
02. Guilty!
03. Horror!
04. Spilling Black Signs
05. Force to Eternity
06. Death Crew

Sign of Evil on Facebook
Psychodelic Horror on Bandcamp