Pitchshifter - [P.S.I.entology]
Picture: C+ Sound:
B- Extras: B Main Program: C
Pitchshifter was a long-standing British metal band,
formed as far back as 1989. They broke up fairly recently, and their new P.S.I.entology
DVD mostly covers the end of their run. I heard them several years ago,
and got my first taste of their brand of metal through two of their bigger
songs - “Microwaved” and “Genius”. I never really delved
any further into their catalogue after that, due to the songs being overly
bland. They were catchy in the moment, but Pitchshifter came off more as
a one-trick pony. Despite one or two of my friends obtaining albums by
the band, I was never curious enough to want to borrow the albums
to sample what they sounded like. Lately I’ve been getting back into
metal a little bit, so I took the chance to cover this disc and give the band
another shot. My previous conception of them hasn’t been blown out of the
water after watching - if anything, it’s been more deeply reaffirmed.
This is something geared for the hardcore fans of the band
and all things metal; but that breed of people has been dying off lately, with
less and less interesting new material coming in to stimulate interest in that
form of music and lifestyle. Despite what the band seems to think, the
music they made wasn’t all that revolutionary or different. At least not
in later years, when bands like Pitchshifter were a dime a dozen, due to the
nu-metal craze of the mid-to-late 90’s. I can’t say too much about their
earlier material - if it sounded anything like the later stuff that was churned
out, then they were at least very influential on the next generation of bands.
But, I have a feeling that during their early period as a band, the sound
was very different from what would come, and not much more than an imitation of
their forebears.
The staleness of their music is showcased in the live
performance, where all the songs sound so much alike, it hurts; the performance
is very lively, but not especially interesting. The extras pretty much
make the disc in this case - and include 3 music videos, 2 of which feature
optional commentary from frontman J.S. Clayden. Also included are
previously unreleased remixes from Pitchshifter. There are even songs and
videos from the bands that have surfaced from ex-members since the demise of
the band. The discography and family tree features are nice, but not
especially useful, unless you need a checklist to hunt down all the singles,
EPs and LPs the band has produced over the years. For the true diehard,
there’s a rather large photo gallery of the band - but I’m not sure how many
people would be dying to sit through that. Also, there are three short
features of moderate interest - a making-of documentary (hearing the vocals
separated from the music and not digitally altered in this segment will make
you want to tear out your eardrums), a backstage interview with the band, and a
post-Pitchshifter interview discussing the band’s legacy, among other things.
The video quality varies greatly throughout the disc, but
it’s serviceable, despite the annoying alterations to the image in certain
segments. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (possibly sometimes-mono) audio is
also on par with what I’d have expected - though an improvement to the concert
sound would have been nice, but it isn’t really necessary.
Though this band’s music wasn’t to my liking, this disc is
surprisingly well put together. It seems a good bit of care went into
offering a wealth of previously unseen material and a full concert as
well. That said, I can’t wail on it too much, as I know that there are
some people out there who would gladly add this to their collection and be very
happy with what they got. I may question their tastes in music a little
bit, as there are many other metal bands that have shown innovation beyond what
Pitchshifter had - but to each his own.
- David Milchick
