That’s it. That’s the end of the journey that took me back in the enchanted musical landscapes of the first four works of PSYCHOTIC WALTZ; and this last review for the band’s 2024 reissues is about one of my personal favorite prog metal albums of all time, the masterpiece titled “Bleeding”.
However, I don’t want to write any more praising words. And it’s not a matter of not being objective; I wasn’t trying to be objective while writing about the three previous albums of PSYCHOTIC WALTZ either, and I think that has been more than obvious. I feel totally ok with myself being driven by my admiration for the bands, the passion that their music ignites inside me, the pleasure and awe I feel when listening to their songs, and I never fear sharing the love and respect that I have for the groups and their works.
If nothing else, expressing my own elaborately enthusiastic opinion cannot by any means change the fact that the albums themselves can be great, anyway; so, even if I didn’t like “Bleeding” for example, it would be ridiculous to try convincing anyone that it’s a bad album. On the other hand, I feel like after three reviews about PSYCHOTIC WALTZ’s monumental albums in the ’90s, the words may fail me if I try to describe their final work of that era, yet another absolutely solid album of theirs, a pure gold standard of prog metal release – there, I DID IT AGAIN!
So, after some thinking, I decided that this one will be about Devon Graves who can be considered as the band’s mastermind, being a multi-instrumental player, vocalist, lyricist and composer for PSYCHOTIC WALTZ from the very beginning until now – an outstanding frontman, a distinct musical figure, and undeniably the band’s most characteristic persona.
The music reached and filled Devon Graves’ soul, flowing deep inside him for the very first time when he was only 5 years old. His sister played a record at home and little Devon was exposed to JETHRO TULL’s “Aqualung”; listening to this album changed his life forever although he didn’t even know it at that time; no wonder why he later found himself singing and playing the flute in a prog band!
He grew in a home filled with music and as a teenager he wanted to play the guitar. The first track to ever play has been BUDDY HOLLY’s “Peggy Sue” and through the ’50s American rock n’ roll sound he finally listened to LED ZEPPELIN and JIMI HENDRIX music after the suggestions of a neighborhood boy and his first guitar teacher. Jimi Hendrix actually made him get into electric guitar sound – the power of such raw energy had a huge impact on him. He already fantasized of playing the Stratocaster (white colored, like Jimi’s!), he envisioned his own band and even started writing his own songs.
“If you like Jimi Hendrix you gonna love Ritchie Blackmore!”
These were his older brother exact words when he handed RAINBOW’s “On Stage” LP to Devon as a present.
While savoring RONNIE JAMES DIO’s voice he happened to see a TV show of ALICE COOPER’s concert, witnessing the icon of a true rock star! And that’s how the idea of becoming a singer, apart from guitarist, first got in his mind.
Unsurprisingly, the decisive albums that got him into the real deal of metal music, like so many other musicians, have been the ones of BLACK SABBATH, of course. And the time has come; the long-haired friends that hanged out talking about their music, all about guitars, amps and pedals, chords, choruses and bridges, jamming together whenever possible and listening to records at every given opportunity, would soon become future bandmates…
The house garage vibrating by the guitar distortion, the homemade studio trembling by the powered-up sound, the whole world shaking by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal – that’s the stuff that dreams are made of!
And that’s where PSYCHOTIC WALTZ are coming from – at least on Devon Graves’ part. Still, it’s where they finally reached that is REALLY astonishing; this great journey and the precious legacy of theirs, they made it as a band, all together, it is not one man’s work!
Like Jimmy Page once said, “You can’t escape your roots!”
No, you can’t. But you can grow your own branches and offer your own fruits, becoming something new.
The very meaning of progression.
And it is progressive music we’re talking about, right?
Progressive metal music, to be accurate.
Well, in the case of PSYCHOTIC WALTZ, this kind of accuracy seems pointless and unnecessary.
PSYCHOTIC WALTZ is PROGRESSIVE by definition and NO other word is needed for their description.
“Bleeding” was released in 1996 and it was meant to be their last album for a long time.
The line-up remained almost the same, with Devon Graves (then known as Buddy Lackey) on vocals, Brian McAlpin and Dan Rock on guitars, Norman Leggio on drums and Phil Cuttino replacing Ward Evans on bass. Evans would return for the recording of the band’s final album so far, “The God-Shaped Void” that came 24 years after the release of “Bleeding”.
The reissue of double-CD digipaks will come out with tons of rare or previously unreleased bonus material as well as expanded layouts, while only 1000 LPs will be released worldwide, in limited, gatefold, coloured editions on 180g vinyl. Live recordings of 1991 and 1995 featuring covers of OZZY OSBOURN and THE BEATLES, together with demos of 1995, 16 songs in total, consist the tracklist of the bonus CD of the double digipack edition. All songs have been remastered by Patrick W. Engel in his Temple Of Disharmony Studio, for the sake of a better yet full of originality sound!
“Bleeding” will be re-issued by Inside Out on May 31st, on DCD and LP.
Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
You can pre order both DCD and limited LP here.
