Psyclon Nine

Psyclon Nine is a musical group formed in 2000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. While their early efforts are generally categorized as aggrotech, their more recent material has incorporated a disparate set of musical and aesthetic influences, notably black metal and industrial metal. The group took a hiatus at the end of 2010 due to Marshall Goppert (aka Nero Bellum)'s opiate addiction. According to a Facebook status on their page, Goppert is bringing Psyclon Nine back. On October 30, 2011, Psyclon Nine played their first show since the hiatus in New York.

The name is a malapropism of Zyklon B, the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in the early 1920s and infamous for its later use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust.<cite?> The "Nine" is used because the number is significant in Aleister Crowley's numerological writings.<cite?>

History

Early days

Psyclon Nine began in 2000 when Bellum and Josef Heresy began working on a guitar-oriented electronic project called "Defkon Sodomy", influenced by bands like KMFDM and Ministry. Renamed Psyclon Nine they played a small festival headlined by See Colin Slash, whose frontman, Eric Gottesman, was promptly recruited as the band's third member.

Divine Infekt

Bellum met NoiTekk head Marco Gruhn at a San Francisco Grendel show, and persuaded him to sign the band. The band's first album, Divine Infekt was recorded shortly thereafter, produced and engineered by Da5id Din of Informatik and din fiv, a electro-industrial/futurepop band on the local scene. The title track was remixed by Tactical Sekt, and the album was released in 2003.

Bellum later said in an interview for Vampirefreaks: "Tactical Sekt remix left a bad taste in my mouth", and attributed that to Anthony Mathers of Tactical Sekt political differences to his own overview on American politics. He also said the incident made him not to collaborate with anyone out of the band (a belief he held strongly until We the Fallen).

The band toured lightly in the U.S. and Europe in support of the album, playing with bands including Dismantled, Nocturne, Feindflug, Aslan Faction, Grendel, and American industrial rock figurehead Martin Atkins on his spoken word tour.

INRI

Several tracks for the follow-up album had already been in the band's live rotation for some time when writing began in earnest. Those tracks were "Lamb of God", "Nothing Left", "Rape This World", "Faith:Disease", and an early, very different version of "The Feeble Mind". By the time the album began to take shape, the band had signed in the United States with Metropolis Records.

After several months writing at home, the band had produced a complete album's worth of demo material. Most of the songs focused on Christianity, some actively hostile towards it, others discussing its history and influence, and the title track became "INRI". The demo version of "Lamb of God" appears on the Noitekk compilation United I. Psyclon returned to Da5id Din's studio for mixing, and the completed album was released in April 2005 on Metropolis in the U.S. and Noitekk in Europe.

Psyclon made several major live appearances following the album release, including several dates opening for alternative act Mindless Self Indulgence and a headlining slot at the German Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival. The MSI shows especially helped solidify the band's younger fanbase, which had been expanding from the traditional rivethead music crowd and out into the larger alternative music population.

Crwn Thy Frnicatr

In 2006, Psyclon Nine released their third full-length album, entitled Crwn Thy Frnicatr. Taking another step away from their terror EBM roots, the album features black metal-styled guitars prominently, and frequently complements them with blast beat kick drums and high-pitched, shrieking vocals typical of black metal. Rotny Ford (Formerly of Nocturne, Bozo Porno Circus and The Puritan Death Squad) joined the band on guitar and synth at this point and his death/black metal guitar style help further the band into a more metal sound.

The music on Crwn Thy Frnicatr was written almost exclusively by Bellum, with only occasional contributions by Eric Gottesman. Some lyrics were written in conjunction with founding member Josef Heresy, but mainly handled by Bellum.

Psyclon Nine again headlined the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in 2007 that same night, after a backstage brawl with Nero, Rotny left the band. He returned to the lineup in 2008.

Josef Heresy and Sevin both left the band in 2008.

We the Fallen

Nero Bellum appeared on internet channel NoisescapeTV in 2008 and said that he was in the studio working on an album entitled We the Fallen, scheduled for release on September 9, 2009. On that album and its preceding tours, Jon Siren of Kidneythieves, Mankind Is Obsolete, and Hate Dept. became Psyclon Nine's new drummer.^[1]

We the Fallen was well received. The album featured guests Brandan Schieppati from Bleeding Through, Gary Zon of Dismantled, Jamison Boaz of Epsilon Zero, Johan van Roy of Suicide Commando. We the Fallen fused more of a metal-styled influence, but was still clearly in the realm of aggrotech. It was also co-produced by Jason Charles Miller of Godhead.

[Order of the Shadow : Act I]

On November 12th, 2013, Psyclon Nine released their fifth and final^[2] album on Metropolis Records.

Controversy

In interviews, the band has stated that they are frequently accused of Nazism, partly because their name is derived from Zyklon B, an insecticide best known for its use by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.^[3][4] In response to the accusations, Bellum stated that "people who think we're nazi's [sic] are fucking idiots and I don't want them listening to my music".^[3] Such allegations are supported by a large tattoo of the word "Übermensch" across Bellum's chest. To charges of supposed antisemitism, the band also pointed out that former member Eric Gottesman is Jewish and that their song "Requiem for the Christian Era" features lyrics from a Hebrew prayer.^[4]

Band members

Current

• Nero Bellum – lead vocals (2000–present)
• Rotny Ford – guitars, synth (2006–2007, 2008–present)
• Merritt – bass (2012–present)
• Glitch NIX – keyboards, synth (2013–present)
• Jon Siren – drums, percussion (2009–present)

Former

• Eric Gottesman – synth (2000–2006) bass (2004–2006, 2007)
• Josef Heresy − synth (2000–2008) guitar (2006–2008)
• Sevin – keyboards, synth (2006–2008)
• Daniel Fox – drums, percussion (2007–2008)
• Abbey Nex – drums, percussion (2005–2006) bass (2007–2009)
• Vlixx – keyboards, synth (2009)

Discography

• Divine Infekt (2003)
• INRI (2005)
• Crwn Thy Frnicatr (2006)
• We the Fallen (2009)
• Order of the Shadow: Act I (2013)

References

External links

• Biography on Metropolis Records (US label)
• NoiTekk (European label)
• Psyclon Nine on VampireFreaks