In terms of literal definitions, the word “psychedelic” has been misappropriated as a genre marker. Where the dictionary definition refers to a state of heightened sensory awareness or a transcendent mental state (often through drugs, but not always), the term is usually attached to effects-heavy pop music that sounds like it needs a blacklight poster to be appreciated properly. Even psychedelic metal usually has a sort of hyperchromatic brightness punctuating its heaviness.
But heightened states of consciousness aren’t always blissful. Sometimes, they can be downright terrifying. And if I had to choose two words to describe psych-sludge quintet Quiet Man’s new record, The Starving Lesson, “downright terrifying” just about says it.
Using extreme levels of guitar fuzz, dark atmospheres, howling screams, and extended track lengths, Quiet Man takes us through a nightmarish view of the end of the world, from both a personal and global scale. Topics range from drug addiction to environmental collapse to the military industrial complex to the cruelty of capitalism, all set to a musical accompaniment just as disturbing.
Yet for all of the gruesomeness of their display, Quiet Man is unflinching, and they offer no quarter to listeners. Even the quiet moments between their volcanic sludge are disquieting. Ambient passages are wrought with a quiet anxiety, offering more a chance to hyperventilate than to breathe, filling the quietness with discordant harmonies and eerie treatments. The only ray of light comes in the final track, “All Along, We Were Beautiful Radiant Things,” which only slightly lifts the pallor that falls on the rest of the record.
To put it in psychedelic terms, it’s a pretty bad trip. It’s the sort of nightmarish vision that would make even the most hallucinogenic-happy hippy reconsider their substance use. But as an album, it’s impressive stuff. There are plenty of similarities you could draw to other bands, such as Cult of Luna, Old Man Gloom, Blood Incantation, or Amenra, but Quiet Man’s take on these elements is purely their own. The Starving Lesson is a powerful statement that is as staggering as it is spellbinding. It’s a slow-motion car crash that you can’t look away from—and you shouldn’t.
The Starving Lesson is out now through Riff Merchant Records.
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