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INSEKTLIFE CYCLE - VIVID DREAMS PARADE Album Review


My own experience being immersed in the local extreme metal scene has led to more than a few realizations, one of which is that most of its fans - particularly those who seem to thrive upon listening to nothing but extreme metal of various shapes almost 24/7 for reasons I have yet to completely fathom myself - might have lost track as to just why metal came to exist as an entire genre on its own. While I can’t really claim to be so much of an expert when it comes to all things metal as I would just be living the ultimate delusion while seated rather comfortably in an armchair if that is the case as most self-described “analysts” are wont to do within the confines of social media, most people who know the history of metal like the back of their hand are probably aware by now that psychedelic rock has been largely instrumental in its development. Anyone within the local extreme metal scene whose common gut reaction is to scoff at psych rock might want to dust off those Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer and Hawkwind records right after giving The Insektlife Cycle a fair shot.

All four members of The Insektlife Cycle are no strangers to the local extreme metal scene as brothers Ronaldo and Ronnel Vivo (on drums and guitar, respectively) also play in sludge metal band Hateure while guitarist Jay Jumawan and bassist Joy Legason are in death/thrash metal band Barabbas. While it definitely would’ve been more convenient for the Vivo brothers, Jumawan and Legason to form a stoner or doom metal project that doesn’t stray far from extreme metal scene in which they are a part of, The Insektlife Cycle take a breather from all the aggression of the main bands their members are involved in and send the listener to a trip of a lifetime via their debut album “Vivid Dreams Parade” put out last May 5 by UK-based record label Mega Dodo. “Vivid Dreams Parade” as a whole is what I reckon could have happened if Tame Impala considerably beefed up their sound after those first couple of records they did which still hold up to this day as entry-level modern psych rock essentials and hung out with Minus the Bear instead of putting out those MOMOL jams that make up the snoozefest of a record that was “Currents”.

No dreamy vocals can be found on “Vivid Dreams Parade” which leaves the bass to do most of the talking as most evident in the opening track “Unicycle Monologue”. The first few seconds of that song stood out to me a lot that I can’t help but wonder now if that guitar jam excerpt right there was taken from a recording that the band had made prior to putting out “Vivid Dreams Parade”. Unlike a lot of psych rock records even from well-established acts within the genre wherein a lot of the songs can get intentionally lightweight under the guise of being “trippy”, “Vivid Dreams Parade” comes across as a rather strong record thanks to the muscular drumming employed all throughout. A few more standout tracks from “Vivid Dreams Parade” for me are “Tristful Ecstasy”and “SleepCrawler” as both aren’t that blatantly psych which leaves The Insektlife Cycle to showcase their versatility compared to just playing music to get baked to from start to finish. The former has this drum pattern which somewhat reminds me of grunge band Alice in Chains’“No Excuses” and the funky guitar work lives up to the “ecstasy” part of its title while the latter travels further back in time to those laidback instrumental guitar records from the 1950’s that our grandfathers used to own back in the good old days.

As someone who has listened to more than his fair share of psychedelic rock both old and new, I could say that The Insektlife Cycle’s “Vivid Dreams Parade” surely lives up to its title as it is not a record designed to get a passive, hallucinatory experience out of. Rather, “Vivid Dreams Parade” entails the listener to actively dream and take a trip into a world where one’s imagination is the only limit.

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