deathrashed: Jesus Wept - Psychedelic Degeneracy (2022)

Information

Artist – Jesus Wept

Album – Psychedelic Degeneracy

Label – Redefining Darkness Records

Released – March 11th, 2022

Type – EP

Genre – Melodic Death Metal

Additional

Notes

Psychedelic Degeneracy is the second EP from Detroit, Michigan four-piece Jesus Wept, released March 11, 2022 on Redefining Darkness Records. It follows Apartheid Redux (2020) — itself a reworking of their self-released 2017 debut Crushing Apartheid — and precedes the White Room Torture split with Trocar (2023). The lineup on this release is C. Colaianni (vocals, lyrics), R. Versace (guitars), N. Barnes (bass, backing vocals), and C. McCoy (drums). Tracked in March 2021 at Bricktop Recording in Chicago by Andy Nelson (ex-Weekend Nachos, Like Rats), the EP was mixed and mastered by Christopher "Zeuss" Harris, whose production credits span Rob Zombie, Hatebreed, and Suffocation. Artwork by Ben DiNino references the collage aesthetic of Carcass's Symphonies of Sickness, foregrounding the band's Heartwork- and Necroticism-era fixation; cover photography by Chloe Whitehouse, layout by Nestor Carrera.

The four tracks — "Surgical Punishment Symmetry," "Dispossession," "Psychedelic Degeneracy," and "God Fetish" — run approximately 16 minutes and sit at the intersection of Heartwork-lineage melodic death metal, death 'n' roll groove, and the bluesier undercurrent of '80s LA heavy metal. Points of comparison include Carcass, Entombed, Gorefest, and contemporary American peers Gatecreeper. Colaianni has described the lyrical thrust as "sex/drug ballads and behavioral observation," concerning what he called "the degeneration of the human spirit and various moral constructs" — surgical horror imagery ("Thrgymmetry" opens with a sampled medical procedure description), substances, and blasphemy recur across the four cuts. The EP received an exclusive premiere at Decibel Magazine and a track premiere at Invisible Oranges, with coverage also from Meat Mead Metal and Toilet ov Hell. Released on CD (limited to 500 copies) and digitally via Redefining Darkness; a later cassette edition appeared through Gurgling Gore (limited to 200, neon pink norelco cases, blue swirl shell). A 12" vinyl compiling both Jesus Wept EPs — Psychedelic Degeneracy on Side A, Apartheid Redux on Side B — was issued in an edition of 250 (125 Aside/Bside blue + hot pink; 125 splatter).

Videos

Recording

Engineered at Bricktop Studios, Chicago, Illinois, USA, March 2022.

Identifiers

Barcode: 752785898487
Matrix / Runout: REDA166 / 8Merch.com
Mastering SID Code: IFPI LV04

Tracklist

1. Surgical Punishment Symmetry – 05:32 >

Eye for eye.

In indignation, judgment falls. Mortal debt repaid.
Absolved of antiquated sin. Retaliation in kind.
No rest; lurking consciousness.
Prayer caresses deafened ears.
Blistered guilt.
Becoming sacrifice of the flesh to atone.

Blood for blood.

Vindication; mutilated into idle form.
Qisas - hallowed reprisal. Column torn from within.
Parity; savage infliction. Judicially maimed.
The searing mark of vendetta’s reach; sacral rend to redeem.

Stasis abide.
From the depths of depravity,
blaring howls of screaming vengeance.
Crescent doctrine maintained.
Ritual denervation. Bereft of humanity.
The agony of a living grave.

Scathing. Unyielding.
Scorn for the mortal’s plight.
Forsaken reverie. Abrogate deserted felony.
Vile creation of earthen wrath incarnate.
Forensic graying.
All life withdrawn.

Abatic reflection.
Vital torment unchained.
Abandoned salvation.
No compassion remains.

2. Dispossession – 03:15 >

Arise from comatic recession, evanescing in silent decay.
Disillusioned, the ruin of spirit unearthing forgotten dreams.
Trepidation. Disengage.
The sallow aether of my aura pervades.
Intrusive thoughts, discordant and harrowing.

There is no escape.
Futility of hope; crushed by the hands of fate.

On wings of anguish toward a future unknown.
Fade out. No purpose from pain.
Life is not your own.

Cries of benighted despondence.
Vessel bound; prison of mind.
Dying light of chimeric horizon,
I am staring blind.
Pneumatic deprivation. Diffusing into entropy.
Wrested command. Every breath a eulogy.

On wings of anguish toward a future unknown.
Fade out. Steel dragging the vein.
Life is not your own.

3. Psychedelic Degeneracy – 03:38 >

This is catharsis; euphoric purgation.
Celestial divide. Harmonious rapture.
Woven venation; fluids surging malign.
Pallid grain and yawning maw, languid hymns seeping forth.
Strings above marionette. Yearn to sever the cord.

Tension suspended, vacuous and cold.
Entrancing impairment of my body repose.
Voided solution in transient grace.
Pillars of amber; a vibrant shade…

Reality unfolds.

Welling narcosis, soma abandoned. Aeons to burn.
Decadent bastard. Forbidden elixir, slake the greed of my nerves. Squalid tryst; a love obscure. Coalesce in withering grasp. Scar-crossed stigmata unborn. Visionary collapse.

I smirk in the face of death.

4. God Fetish – 04:04 >

Violent passion and criminal skin.
My poison corrupts you again.
Profane obsession, like moth to flame.
Awakening of the flesh as you descend.

Eager tongued, drink your fill. Echo the desperate call.
Kneel before me, Lord above thee. Beg me to take control.
Sapphire tongue tracing your moral crest.
Evocation of serpent form. Crux on thy barren chest.

Seraphic coition.
Thelemic copulation.
Pleading resignation.

Object of lust, slave to my will.
Embrace and entrust, bestriding my kill.

Light, incandescent. Eternal blessing of flame.
Cast down; still beloved. Your addiction remains.
Graven desire; quaking limbs slanted wide.
Wicked thirst all-consuming, aching to take me inside.

Fane of sin, satin veiled.
Servile thrall - whore of lust divine.

Total length: 16:29