Five years ago, PSYGNOSIS decided to go in a direction that few metal bands have ever taken. Not only did they ditch extreme vocals entirely. They added a cellist to lift their trembling riffs, precision beats and cosmic ambience to lofty new heights.
Psygnosis
Atmospheric Extreme Metal - France
PSYGNOSIS is a project started in 2009 by Rémi Vanhove, who was eager to gather all of his musical influences into one entity. A first solo EP, “Phrases”, was released in June 2009 and lays the foundations of PSYGNOSIS’ music: an atmospheric extreme Metal with hints of electronic music. Rémi then surrounded himself with a second guitarist, a bassist and a singer, and continues to program the drums himself.
The first album “Anti-Sublime” was released in January 2012 and allowed the band to continue the artistic process started with “Phrases”. This release also marked the first encounters of the quartet with the public. After the EP “Sublimation” in 2013, Psygnosis came out with a second album in 2014. “Human Be[ing]” shows that the band has gained in maturity, through better digested influences and compositions whose structures become more complex.
The year 2015 marks an important change for PSYGNOSIS: The band made the radical choice to become instrumental by recruiting Raphaël Verguin as a cellist. A first EP “AAliens” followed, followed up by the full length “Neptune” in 2017, an ambitious opus of one hour and seventeen minutes inviting the listeners to travel to the ends of the Solar System.
Despite the instrumental aspect, PSYGNOSIS continues to assert its first intention: that of a Metal mixing nervous riffs, blast beats and atmospheric ambiences. The meeting of Rémi and Raphaël with the guitarist Elise Masliah and the drummer Thomas Crémier enables the quartet to stabilize its formation and to defend on stage PSYGNOSIS’ intense and emotional music.
Line-up:
- Thomas Crémier : Drums, Sound Engineer
- Elise Masliah : Guitar
- Rémi Vanhove : Guitar, Sound Design
- Raphaël Verguin : Cello
PSYGNOSIS are light-years ahead of the curve. Not only do this extreme metal band bypass vocals entirely, they also include a cellist.
PSYGNOSIS make a distinctly progressive type of extreme metal. Sure, the French band has two guitarists who grind out plenty of crunching, distorted riffs, and their drummer is by no means shy when it comes to hammering out blast beats. But this extreme metal band doesn’t have a vocalist. Instead, they’ve got a cellist.
Season of Mist is proud to announce the signing of PSYGNOSIS! The French atmospheric extreme band will release their brand new album via Season of Mist in the Summer of 2023.