CoC : Pan-Thy-Monium III - Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion : Review

Pan-Thy-Monium III - _Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion_
(Relapse, 1996)
by: Henry Akeley (8 out of 10)

Swallow real good before you listen to this one for it will certainly make your jaw go slack. Yep, get ready to be dumbfounded as your speakers gush riffs that crush, manic time-changes that slap you silly, and leads that drip like honey into your ears. Cool keys as well - and lots of other surprises that I'm not going to give away, all courtesy of Day Disyraah (who sometimes also goes by "Dan Swano") and his fellow disciples of Raagoonshinnaahh. This is just severely crazy stuff! The first two songs clock in at over twelve minutes each (!) and sprint through the course from death to doom to grind to jazz-core to I-don't-know-what again and again and again. But they never cease to hold your attention, because the heaviness and the creativity never let up. I guess the techno-alien-death-grind stylings of Demilich are a reasonable comparison here, but Pan-Thy-Monium has a much more diversified and refreshing sound. Very weird, yeah, but it'll hammer you pretty damn hard and then mesmerize you completely. Track three, "Behrial," is a drop-dead beautiful soundscape, the golden haze of a perfect summer day painted in sound. It's a brilliant set-up for the closer, "In Remembrance", which commemorates the totally unique entity that was Pan-Thy-Monium. Yep, "was" is right: this is the third release from these underground heroes; it's the first to see distribution in North America; and it's the last we'll ever hear from this truly outstanding band. If you're looking for something really powerful, yet completely different, then this one is not to be missed.

(article published 18/4/1996)