"This is the first commercial album from Welsh heavyweights Kyshera. Entitled 'Paradigm', it consists os 12 brand new tracks that will twist your brain, make you think & have you chanting your ass off at the same time! This is the rawest yet most accessible stuff to date with the band purposely stripping away the myriad complex layers that made up the bands early demo's & going for a more live, grungy sound. At first, I couldn't imagine them sounding quite like Kyshera without the distorted drum loops, scrawls of feedback & circus organs - but trust me, they pull it off...very, very well! You can practically hear the room here & the band have nowhere to hide, demonstrating just how good James' songwriting actually is, even when taken right down to it its bare bones. There are so many possible single choices here that I'm glad that I'm not the one in charge of having to choose just one song from this lot! Songs like Willing Prey, Lust, Element, Moment's Silence & Coalition are straight up, fist in the air, singing along at the top of your voice, anthemic Rock gold. Once again, James' voice is on top form, with his own brand of Jeff Buckley vocal acrobatics & Alice in Chains like harmonies & the band...frighteningly good! Heard in this setting, you really get to appreciate what great musicians Kyshera really are, the tightness between the Bass & Drums, the power & drive that they create is just purely awesome. Contrasting with the very dense production of 'Made in China', theres actually a straight acoustic song on here in Moments Silence which you really have to see through to the middle in order to appreciate the real beauty of the piece, I'm not going to ruin the suprise but its a truly sweet song with a very poignant message. Element starts simply with Piano & vocal & builds & builds & builds up gradually to its mighty, pounding, dramatic climax, only revealing the subject of the song in its last line.
For those of you thinking 'uh, is this the same band', fear not, there are still plenty of 'typical' Kyshera brain twisters on here! Songs like Paradigm, Fiction, If & Kill the Messenger feature all of usual the typical Kyshera madness! Fiction clocks in at just over 2 minutes & yet will leave you breathless by the sheer musical ambition of the piece! The song is probably about as near to Punk as Kyshera will ever get, with the band rattling through a million different riffs, sections & odd rhythms at break neck speed while James rallies against us 'living in an advert of reality' & 'living in a Fiction'. Before you've got time to wonder what the hell just happened to you, the band have kicked into Kill the Messenger, another mind bogglingly diverse track with an instrumental break in the middle of the song taking us through Reggae, Death Metal & even a high speed country jig! Frequency 1 is a very short Orchestral piece that doesn't have any melody or rhythm, just big blocks of chords that create (in James' words) 'sonic colours' - its an interesting listen, some of these changes are beautiful & some of them are pretty harsh sounding & the whole thing makes for a very unique & brave use of orchestra. The piece then morphs into Frequency 2, an instrumental which is a lot more in the vein of 'Made in China', all the usual suspects are there - Harpsichords, Theramin, Music boxes & even a Arabic Violin sounding thing that does a crazy solo midway! Frequency 2 takes you on a real journey - while the band is pounding away ferociously underneath, the arrangement on top changes from Jazz, Orchestral, Eastern, Sci-Fi, Cowboy etc, its all there, again displaying just how skilled an arranger James actually is. The album closes with one of the strongest songs here, Coalition - a straight Rock, singalong anthem with James almost blowing his lungs out on the last repeat of 'its only a choice'. A very strong song indeed, you'll be singing the bridge for days, I guarantee it.
Needless to say, this is a very, very strong album. The band have taken many risks here & have pulled it off spectacularly. The production is fantastic & really gives you the band sounding as they are...pounding, tight & heavy. The songs are some of the strongest James has ever written & for those of you that are worried about missing the pile of odd times, style changes, noisecore & circus sounds, fear not, theres plenty of that to go around here aswell! This is very versatile album that probably has something for everyone, yet has a distinctly consistent sound throughout. This has been a long awaited release & the wait has been more than worth it, this is an album that will stand the test of time & will reveal more & more of its subleties to you with every listen. Just go & get it now, you will not be disappointed, you have my word." DB UK
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