Mental Hygiene, the third album by Slychosis was released in 2010. One of the differences I hear right off with this album is a heavier more aggressive collection of songs. I think this was due to the recent collaboration with the side project Proximal Distance. Another reason is the addition of two guest guitarists, Jeff Hamel of Majestic & Proximal Distance, and Bones Joshua Theriot of Abigail's Ghost.
The rest of the musicians are Todd Sears (drums), and Ceci Whitehurst (vocals), with new comers Clay Pell (bass), Bridget Shield (vocals), and Mike Fortenberry (trumpet). Together they create a album of heavy progressive rock, bordering at times in the prog-metal camp. This one took me longer to get into, and I’m still grasping at the music to forge my honest opinion.
I’ve been lucky to have had a chance to review each of the Slychosis albums, and with each release there’s a slight change in styles.
With the latest, Mental Hygiene, being the heavier sounding of them all and I hate to say the most disjointed. I wished that the guitars were lower in the mix and maybe keyboards brought up to add some melody to some of the songs.
Perhaps on the fourth album, Gregg will have more balanced songs like “Fallen Tiger” (6:53) which is a nicely flowing psychedelic flavored tune, and “Things Unsaid” (5:14) is a perfect blend of progressive rock on the heavier side, almost but not quite progressive metal.
If you like your prog on the raw and heavy side, then look no further than Slychosis’ third album, Mental Hygiene. It will take several listening sessions to fully grasp the music. This is exactly where I’m at, on the fence with this release but leaning towards getting a good recommendation as a release for prog rock/metal fans.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on May 17th, 2011
