It's now time for our 185th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and after a two month delay, we are finally looking at local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage's 70th studio album "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck"! Released to their Bandcamp page and major streaming services on September 1st (though backdated a month), this was recorded at their own River Front Recreation Studios once again earlier this year, and they're clearly not resting on their laurels this deep into their run. While not only a very long album (3+ hours in length, necessitating three discs if released physically), it is also a concept album with a companion comic book that is also on sale! Sykotyk Rampage are no stranger to lengthy concept albums (remember "WYRD Radio 2: Kype The Jesus Boots"?), but a 137 page comic book with visual accompaniment is a new one for our reviews, and definitely gives this some extra points!
Sykotyk Rampage are represented here by their current lineup, including singer/drummer Paul Becker and his brother Dirk on vocals & guitar, plus guitarist Shane Kokis and bassist Tony Briglio. "Special apparitions" are also made by their former bassists Dennis Becker (Paul & Dirk's late brother) and Brian Cattapan, though individual song credits for what songs they appear on are not given. "Waerlogas Saga 1" (yes, a sequel is in the works) is on sale on Bandcamp for $70, but this includes the comic book to be shipped to your mailing address, and it's printed on high quality paper at 6.5'' x 10.5'', so keep that in mind! If you just want to hear the songs, the album can be streamed on Bandcamp for free, and is also streamable on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. You can buy the album alone on mp3 on Amazon for $7.99 and on iTunes for $9.99.
Buying just the comic with no mp3 copy of the album is doable, but the comic (authored by Dirk Becker) is only separately on sale on Lulu for $90, so curious environ-mental suit-wearing fans will probably prefer just paying $70 for everything on Bandcamp. Given the massive length of "Konfysion Of Fyck", augmented by a comic book explaining and depicting the story, I do plan on condensing my thoughts of the album to keep this at a (more) manageable length, and I'll try to do that by focusing on one paragraph or less per chapter (there are nine chapters), with the songs laid out as the story progresses. Now, let's get this marathon album review underway! Just as a quality note re: the comic, the included art appears to be AI generated for the most part, and text often has contrast issues being placed onto the images, so keep all of that in mind. Actual photos of Sykotyk Rampage are included at the back along with credits and the band's biography.
The "Waerlogas Saga" ("waerloga" being Old English for a traitor or liar) is a fantasy epic, told in verse with transcribed song lyrics in the comic. The "sykotyk waerlogas" are the wizard Laup, necromancer Krid, warlock Enahs, and sorcerer Ynot, with duelist Nairb and dwarf Ned (not Sinned) also appearing. One guess as to how the character names were made! A synthesized AI voice is narrating the spoken word sections, which is tipped off by inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate word pronunciations. The narration is not always verbatim to what is printed in the comic, but it's close enough to follow along. Spoken word tracks are depicted with comic pages, whereas the formal songs have printed lyrics on one page and a descriptive image on the other. Nice to see Sykotyk Rampage post lyrics for their songs like this! Many of the tracks are longer than normal to boot, including ten that exceed 6 minutes in length.
A spoken word track named "Chapter 1- Astro-Travelers" sets up the adventure, as the waerlogas prepare to go on a quest to defeat a "cyclops orange demon" and his magma imps with the aid of of the Dead God's Eye. with Ynot's cat left to hold down the tower while they're gone. Chapter 1 has three formal songs, and while the lyrics do link to the comic, they are loose enough in themes and interpretation where you can hear them on their own without issue. Of these, "Konfysion Of Fyck" is a Paul-sung track where he trades off with a woman's spoken word voice where she seems to be longing for him, but his views are more excitable and less wordy. "Well Of Konfysion" has Paul wondering how you get out of the title location, a dimensional portal on the waerlogas' quest. "Astro Travellers" is the first song on the album with Dirk singing lead, and it's basically about how you can make astral projection happen for yourself to travel the cosmos, perhaps to go to Konfysion!
Of the three actual songs in the first chapter, my favourite was "Well Of Konfysion" for its freewheeling crash rock sound that won't be out of place at all for Sykotyk Rampage diehards. The prior track was a little too layered and repetitive by comparison, while the latter did kinda meander after a while despite fitting the spacey vibes of the lyrics. All three are fun for fans of Sykotyk Rampage though, and set the story off well enough!
Chapter 2's lead-off spoken word track ("Chapter 2- Larry The Zombie") has Enahs conjuring Loser Larry Sam (his familiar) in a creative manner, then sending him off to retrieve the Dead God's Eye from the den of Abehs the spider queen. For the four songs here, "Flesh & Blood" has Paul questioning what Larry is made of, and is nicely paced hard rock fare with strong energy. The much slower & bluesier "Larry Sam The Zombie" actually has Dirk singing, and about Larry himself, who doesn't sound much like a warlock's familiar as described. More meandering than I like from this band. "Into The Fyck Blue Yonder" has Paul singing about good experiences that he wants to give and recieve, and while tighter, it's a little spare despite a strong bassline. Lastly, "Charysma Of The Eye" (the shortest song on offer) is a passioned rocker about how fast Dirk fell in love, and it's Dirk's best vocal performance so far despite muffled audio.
"Chapter 3- Spiders Under Your Skin" is the longest one yet, where we learn that Larry has retrieved the Dead God's Eye, but incurred Abehs' wrath as she and her spider minions attack our heroes. Do they survive? In the four songs here, "Spidersweb" is a Paul-led love song with a bouncy riff, great bass from Tony, and a fun jam rock atmosphere, even if it doesn't call to mind the album concept! "Push It" is thematically about pushing yourself to your limits from outside pressure, and I believe Tony is on vocals here given the lower, gruffer tones. Overly long but a solid enough driving rocker! "Suffering" is about what the title suggests, but Paul's singing is very processed & often very hard to make out. Otherwise, a tight enough song instrumentally with good percussion! Lastly here is "Spell Of Dance", which runs for an album-long 11+ minutes. This is sung by Dirk and "Abehs" as she does her dance of death in the story, and Abehs' vocals take this out of any innocuous love song territory. Way too long for my tastes but it wasn't boring or repetitive, and it best fit the story in this chapter!
Now to "Chapter 4- Dead God's Eye", where the waerlogas next encounter He, a one-eyed orange demon who is the dead god in question, reclaiming his missing eye from them and sending them into another dimension inside the God's Eye. Four Paul-sung numbers here, starting with "Covet Me", the chant that He made when first encountered in the story. The song itself has Paul criticizing stupid/people behaviour and how they should want to be him. Too deliberate & spare for me, but well recorded! Next is "He", which is basically He's villain song. Mid-tempo but dark for a Sykotyk Rampage song, it's effective for what it is, and has good guitar work! The song named "Dead God's Eye" (all 10+ minutes of it) is about what happens when you look into the title object. I don't know what to make of the recurring upbeat verse, but this psychedelic rocker is effective otherwise, despite being overly long and really burying the vocals in the mix.
Lastly in this chapter, "Darkness" is about anticipating and fearing something in the dark. An ominously paced track that feels a bit like they heard some Tool songs for inspiration, it still feels sykotyk enough for fans, and Paul's voice does have a touch of dread and emotion to match!
The back half of this marathon album starts with "Chapter 5- Battle To The Well Of Souls", where the waerlogas finally encounter Ned & Nairb in their travels through the God's Eye, but how do their old colleagues factor into the fight to escape and defeat He? A fan favourite Sykotyk Rampage song comes up a couple of times here, so keep that in mind! Just three songs in this chapter (all sung by Paul), starting with "Fight To Hell", about ending up in "rock n' roll Hell", where you can only hear one song on repeat. A little grindy, but the distortion works well, and Paul has decent range! "Wizards' Battle" isn't directly about the story, and talks of processing the reason for life events. Trippy number with heavily layered vocals, so fans of their psychedelic sound will take to it. "Celebration Whiskey" is a pure drinking song, but this isn't as freewheeling and fun as their best ones. It's too deliberately paced, but it's still good!
"Chapter 6- Well Of Souls" has our now six heroes travelling to the title well and encountering the psychopomps and the mysterious sister of He, who they must ask help from to escape from and remove the God's Eye. Three more songs with Paul on vocals here, leading with "Cascade Of Souls", which is more cryptic lyrically, and is about questioning someone's immediate actions. Another trippier number, but with clearer vocals and more ominous overtones, so it has some good qualities! The very metaphorical "Screaming Bridge Of Flesh & Bone" is next, and it's a stronger song for fans of their regular crash punk style with effective guitar. However, I can barely hear what Paul and/or the psychopomps are saying. "Pedal To The Metal" is a straightforward song about loving to drive one's car fast, but the song doesn't have the implied forward motion. It's just a jam rocker not unlike many in the vast SKR catalogue, but it works well!
We next enter "Chapter 7- Sleepy Time Tea", which presents the ongoing story as a book being read by a grandpa to his grandkids, but in-universe, the waerlogas have entered a steampunk realm unfamiliar to them. This chapter only has two songs, the first being "Sleepy Time Tea", but it has nothing to do with the concept of the album, instead being Paul's "love song to you". A too deliberate and spare song for my liking, but the bass is solid, The other song in this chapter is "Steam World", which is actually an instrumental. If it's supposed to be thematic of steampunk, then I'm not sure it really comes across, as it still sounds very sykotyk, if with a grandiose ending. Still a solid (if relatively short) jam that fans who have seem them rock out in The Cave will appreciate! "Chapter 8- Not In Konfysion Anymore" is the longest of the nine AI-narrated chapter tracks on the album, but the story's nowhere near done.
In this chapter, the waerlogas plot their next move to get out of their current location and stop He once and for all, while bringing back Loser Larry Sam the zombie as well as a new ally, a thief named Johnny Timesmith. That character is the basis of the next song, "Johnny Go Go Go", which sounds like an extension of "Johnny B. Goode", but in practice, it's a steady mid-tempo rocker with a trance-like quality, and vague lyrics that don't allude to the story. The chapter's (and album's) last song is "Steam God's War", which is basically an acknowledgement that nuclear war has hit and it's horrible, even ending with a bomb blast. On a musical basis, this ends things strongly with a well building ambiance, effective vamping from Paul behind the mic, and the noisy crash rock that fans have come to expect! "Waerlogas Saga 1" ends with its final (and shortest) narrated track, "Chapter 9- Dream Away Until The End".
The album (and comic book) wrap up with the grandpa from chapter 7 pausing the storytime before putting the grandkids to bed, but the story will resume on another day. Yes, there will be a second "Waerlogas Saga" to come in 2025, so stay tuned if you want to find out how the story wraps up and how Luap, Krid, Enahs, Ynot, Ned, and Nairb's quest continues! With all of that said, what are my final thoughts on Sykotyk Rampage's marathon new concept album and comic book? You certainly can't fault their ambition, and while it is inconsistent, I liked the music here more than on their prior album "69"! The guys weren't reinventing the wheel here, so if you liked their prior albums, you'll have been fine with this one! This is my ninth Sykotyk Rampage album review, and there's not a ton to say for the actual songs that I haven't seen/heard previously, but at their freewheeling jam best, they still deliver the goods!
Songs like "Spidersweb", "Well Of Konfysion", and "Steam God's War" show off SKR at their best, and it'd be neat to see some of these songs learned for live shows if they ever resumed them! Everyone performed well here, with Tony shining on bass multiple times, while Dirk and Shane paired well on riffs for most of the runtime! Of course, I'd like to see the guys rein in some of the slower, more deliberate, and musically spare numbers, and I did miss hearing Dirk's snarl on lead vocals after chapter 3. Regarding the concept, I fully applaud the effort at a fantasy epic, but many songs only linked to the Konfysion arc in a loose thematic sense, if at all, and I don't think Sykotyk Rampage's music really suits a steampunk environment. The AI narrator voice could stand to have either more proofreading or consistent spelling too, as words changed pronunciation multiple times, though Dirk picked a good grandfatherly vocal model for the narration!
The quality of the comic book will vary depending on your acceptance of AI art, but it at least looks good, if somewhat inconsistent from page to page. My biggest issue across album and comic is poor text contrast for the comic itself. Given the chosen backgrounds and font, parts of some sentences were not legible at all, and I would have had them in separate boxes or outlined or something. For a one-man idea (I believe this was all Dirk), it has a lot of variance and imagination, and I'm definitely game to see where "Waerlogas Saga 2" takes the story! Overall, this is a fun (if long) album that Sykotyk Rampage diehards will get into, and while the comic is a fun bonus, it's not essential to enjoy the music with. I hope you guys liked this month's album review at the SMS, but what album are we ending 2024 to look at in December? For the first time since 2022, I may not have an idea going into the end of the year!
Priority for album reviews always goes to new releases, but I believe we're about caught up for new local metal, hard rock, and punk albums. I do have some ideas of unreviewed archival albums to look at, but I won't show my hand yet as I normally like tying in archive album reviews with a musician playing live in the same month, and there should be some notable holiday season concerts to be announced. Stay tuned by year's end in any event, and for more news and notes on the site very soon! Thanks everyone!
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