Psychostick – Revenge of the Vengeance

Tracklist:

1. Revenge of the Vengeance
2. Obey the Beard
3. President Rhino
4. H-Flat (skit)
5. So. Heavy.
6. Dogs Like Socks
7. Super Legit OFFICIAL Teaser #2 Explode (skit)
8. Quack Kills
9. Blue Screen
10. NSFW
11. Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins cover)

12. New to the Neighborhood (skit)
13. Loathe Thy Neighbor (Concept by Nick Belyung)
14. AWESOME!
15. Choking Hazard
16. Fight to the Death
17. Bruce Campbell (Concept by Nick Belyung)
18. Trick or Treat (skit)
19. Dimensional Time Portal
20. The Power of Metal Compels You (Concept by Guale “Wally” Hovden)
21. Outtakes IV: The Outtakening

Artist: Psychostick
Title: Revenge of the Vengeance
Label: Rock Ridge Music
Release Date: November 4
Year: 2014
Website: Visit page

Ha ha.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
Okay, give me a moment. I’m still chuckling every time I think of Psychostick’s latest 21 track album Revenge of the Vengeance. Every moment on it is filled with hilarity, from marrying beards, being afraid of ducks and then saving a crowd of people from a dimensional time portal. And I thought I’d heard it all.

The album opens up with a snippet of a voice which you could imagine on any big movie trailer, which happily takes the mick out of The Avengers, to saying that this band are the revenge of the vengeance. I’ve no idea how marrying beards could be the vengance’s revenge, but if you want to try and argue with the logic, you may as well try arguing with a philosopher. President Rhino is nothing short of insane, until “H-flat”, where they try and get as much of a lower tuning as possible, only to find out “There is no H flat!”. We then open with the hilarious “So Heavy”, a song that should’ve been released when the metalcore/deathcore scene just went downhill. “This song is so heavy, you want to headbutt a mountain!” That made me laugh, but not as much as “Dogs like Socks”, which is pretty much about a dog who likes socks.
Before I move on, as funny as an album it is, musically it’s fantastic. Matty J on bass for “Blue Screen” almost made me almost think that it was a serious song. But I was misguided; it’s about a computer that breaks down. Until Mozart’s “Eine Kleine” makes a brief appearance in “NSFW”, and I only thought someone who could say that amount of “Fucks” was Gordon Ramsey. The final uttering of “Shit” goes straight into “Danger Zone”. That’s right! That song from Top Gun, where they go into the zone of danger (Archer fans should hopefully get that reference).
It’s honestly incomprehensible how silly this album is. “New to the Neighborhood” and “Trick or Treat” just offer us some weird neighbor hurling some outrageously funny insults, but musically it’s still phenomenal, from Rob Kersey’s comic vocal timing with Josh Key and Alex Dontre hammering out guitar riffs and bludgeoning drum beats. The album ends with “Dimensional Time Portal”, where it appears at one of their shows, and “The Power of Metal Compels You” (reminds me of Wonder Woman, not sure if it was intended) is how they close the portal and save the day and their audience.

Tenacious D were the kings of comedy metal, but Rize of the Fenix has made it look like they’ve reached their hay day, as much as I love them. The king’s crown has to go somewhere, and for an album like this, it looks like Psychostick are next in line for the throne.