Hello everyone, and welcome to LvL Analysis, (which is just a cheesy name for my review column. Hey, gotta have a gimmick right?) l plan to review mostly music, typically of the nerdy type to stick to the Nerdfit way of things, but now and then I may review something a bit more standard.

This one goes out to all the nerds who indulge themselves in the finer things in life, fine liquor, thought provoking art, and in this particular case, delicious metal. Released back on May 5th Sandwich is Psychostick’s proper follow up to the album We Couldn’t Think of a Title, and something that I’ve been looking forward to for quite a long time. Now that I’ve listened to it quite a bit and let the album sit on my play list for a while, I decided it would be a good time to review it to see how it measures up.

Just a couple of crazy guys

For those who are unfamiliar with the stick (shame on you) I’ll give you a little background. Psychostick is a small outfit formed way back in 2000, and currently hail from NowheresVille (Temple) Arizona. Their first full album We Couldn’t Think of a Title was released in 2003. For whatever reason in 2005 one of the songs from the album “BEER!!!” started to get heavy radio play, and during this time they got huge exposure as far as up here in the Northeast, where they were pushed by the mediocre radio station WAAF (Yes, they are “the band that plays that beer song,” they poke fun at this in one of their street team tutorial videos.) However it was this exposure that allowed people like me to hear their musical shenanigans for the first time so that we could further indulge ourselves. They followed up We Couldn’t Think of a Title with a Christmas EP entitled The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride.

As for the genre, if you’ve never heard a Psychostick song it’s a blend of humor and metal, or as they describe it, humorcore. The issue with humor music is that more often then not it’s a very short lived thing, the jokes are often one liners and the music is often sub-par. In order to make an effective humor album you must not only have a good sense of humor, but you must also make terrific music so once you’ve heard the joke a million times and its no longer funny you’ve still got an excellent track to listen to. This is where Psychostick succeeds where many others fail. We Couldn’t Think of a Title contained many potentially one shot jokes, such as the song “Scrotal Torment,” I mean, you can only listen to a song about scratching your balls so many times before it becomes stale in its humor. To rectify this they just wrote a straight up good musical track to accompany all their songs. “Pluh” to this day is still one of my favorite metal songs. On top of this they managed to write songs where 3 years and hundreds of plays later I still chuckle at them.

Which brings us to today. Sandwich is done in the very same fashion as We Couldn’t Think of a Title, being that the album is 2/3 music, 1/3 skits, which is exactly how I, and I imagine most stick fans, wanted it to be. The skits themselves range from debates about Megaman, to propositions for name changes, to a short little diddy about what Rawrb enjoys. The humor in these skits is every bit as good as it was for We Couldn’t think of a Title. As awesome as these skits are though, they aren’t the meat of the sandwich, they are just the lettuce and tomatoes that add to the overall deliciousness. What we really need to look at to see if the album succeeds is the delicious meat that is the music. Or is the music that is the meat?

Watch out, he'll bite 'cha

Sandwich contains a track for everyone, be it a worker or a disgruntled roommate, I guarantee you there is a song in this album that you can identify with. The album opens up much with a short skit in which there is a proposition to metal. When it is finally settled, then the album really begins to metal. “Caffeine” is the first musical track on the album, and it’s a hyper, heavy, uptempo salute to that delicious narcotic that drives half of America. Truthfully it was a bit overwhelming the first time I heard it because I was not expecting it, but it sets the tone of the album really well. “Shower” is the second musical track, and a very important song that I feel is relevant to all nerds and nerd outings, be it convention, tournament, or combination tournament and convention (Please, someone, sanitary products sponsor for GUcon for the love of god!) “P is the Best Letter” is the third musical track, and personally one of my favorites on the album, its got that heavy and syncopated sound that I love from Psychostick, and the type of bawlsy proclamation that reminds you that they have as much fun making the music as you will listening to it. “Minimum Rage” is a salute to the fast food workers, but it can also be seen as an anthem for all those who work in retail, it’s one of those universal truths that you can find in many of their songs. “Don’t Eat My Food” well, what can I say, it’s a song about someone who doesn’t like his food getting eaten. The Hunger Within is another song for those who live from paycheck to paycheck, but it is also for those who just have that craving for something delicious only to find their hopes crushed at the hands of the refrigerator. “Grocery Escape Plan” is a narrative about shopping in a clusterfuck of rhythm changes, what else can I say, it’s hilarious stuff. “This is Not a Song it’s a Sandwich” would probably be the single off the album if there were one, and probably the best song on the album as it has the best staying power in terms of it‘s humor, and some of the best instrumentals.

With “Girl Directions” they briefly break the food songs, with a short interlude about that person who can only give directions in nondescript landmarks. However the food motif quickly returns with “Orange” followed by “Do You Want a Taco?” which are two of the lesser descript, more mediocre songs on the album. This trend doesn’t continue though, as things jump way up in quality with “#1 Radio $ingle” which is easily one of if not the funniest song on the album, as it breaks down all pop/cockrock in one absolutely hilarious swoop. “Die… A LOT!” is a short, heavy, and creative metal track, with that good humor stuff thrown about. “You’ve Got Mail Enhancement” is a rage directed at spam, however the lines “The Internet is a wonderful place. The ability to retrieve information on any subject, or communicate with anybody around the world is a significant step towards world peace and the evolution of the human race… Then you’ve got these assholes who gotta be like ‘I’M GONNA SHIT ALL OVER THIS PRECIOUS GIFT TO MANKIND,’ ” could not be any truer, nor hit any closer to home than anything in this album. “Passive Vengeance” is another mediocre track, funny, but not as memorable, not too much to say about it.

Which brings us to an interesting track. To pay for the production of Sandwich Psychostick allowed fans to donate 50$ to get their name in a song. The result is “373 Thank Yous.” This is not a track you’d listen to more than once, because first it’s fifteen minutes long, and second because all it is, is names of people and companies. However it is a practice in something very clever. To make up the actual track Psychostick took a bunch of it’s older songs, and basically rerecorded them with the names in place of the lyrics, and it actually works really well. This track is then followed by an outtakes track, and much like the “hidden track” in We Couldn’t Think of a Title, they were a joy to listen to. Finally the album finished with my vote for funniest track on the album, “We Ran Out of CD Space.” This track is absolutely nothing like Psyhcostick, it’s acoustic, it’s soft and upbeat. On top of all that though, it’s just flat out funny. If this track doesn’t get you smiling then you’re just a joyless bastard that hates sunshine and happiness.

Psychostick drummer Alex lays down a smooth rhythm

So how does Sandwich stack up over all? Sandwich is a fantastic album, and is a great addition to any metalhead’s library as long as they have a sense of humor. If to you “metal is srsfknbiznss” then you won’t enjoy this album, because like We Couldn’t Think of a Title it’s really out there. (However if you do take any music is “srsfknbiznss” then I highly suggest you take a step back and rethink your life, because music should be enjoyed for what it is and if you can’t do that then what’s the fucking point.) In terms of where it falls in the Psychostick catalogue, I would still place We Couldn’t Think of a Title a bit higher because the sound on Sandwich is a bit more homogeneous as compared to it, however there are still some killer tracks on Sandwich. All in all I give Sandwich a passing grade, it’s some good music, it’s lot’s of fun, and like a good sandwich its delicious and satisfies your hunger.

As a side note, if you ever have the chance to see these guys in concert, go, it’s absolutely worth it.

Photos taken at the Middle East, Cambridge, MA, June 13th 2008

For a more information check out their band page and myspace.
http://psychostick.com
http://www.myspace.com/psychostick