Twin Obsidian by Miscellen

Twin Obsidian is a hard-charging psychedelic rock album from Miscellen loosely themed around identities as double-edged swords, and the extents to which we consent as disposable pawns of systems that seek to define us or we cut through the layers of artifice and egos to truly understand and experience authentic selves (even when that dissection reveals our crowns were actually just cheap paper hats from a fast food joint).

In characteristic form, Miscellen bangs out acidic rock anthems with a gritty neo-noir tone, featuring wailing guitars, propulsive drums, and both male and female vocals that veer between impassioned urgency and strained screeds. But on Twin Obsidian, an ominous atmosphere becomes even thicker with intermittent saxophone, droning organs, and various electronic accents.

For an album about identities, ‘who is Miscellen?’ is a fair question. Maybe they’re a bunch of creeps ready with some side-eye if you show up to the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe they’re just some lil’ sweetie pies looking to cuddle. Guess you’ll have to listen and decide for yourself.

As Twin Obsidian’s first track, the aptly titled MONOLITH forgoes elaborate design and just hits like an imposing formation of solid rock. Then with heavy riffs and explosive groove, LIKE HELL YOU ARE excoriates the melee resulting from politicians and corporations trying to manipulate and commodify people’s identifies in their quest for power and profit, and how this exploitation leads people into curated personas that serve external interests rather than their own… and where nobody comes out unscathed.

After the nocturnal allure of DATURA and the menacing interlude of FISHTANK, RED CARPET reflects on the savagery that goes into and comes out of an entertainment machine, as the song throws you up against a thick wall of fuzz with elements of industrialized doom and trip-hop before a symphonic climax dissolves into singular strums of a mournful guitar.

Then cutting through the dust like a buzz saw, SHAKEDOWN features a swag beat and a clear invitation: come for the party, stay for the existential dread. Twin Obsidian rounds out with an enigmatic homage in HIGH STEPPER, a compelling case for ego death in A BLIND SPOT IN THE MIND’S EYE, a cinematic ballad in GEMINI about someone with a complicated past trying to ascend to a better future even when the journey is filled with other people who are content to languish, and lastly a rousing finale in SANDGLAS.

Available now as name-your-price on Bandcamp and coming soon to a disreputable retailer or streaming platform near you.

Heavy Psychedelic Alternative Rock

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