bonnek In the beginning of the 90's I got into a serious 'metal state'. The reason was obvious. At that time it was the liveliest scene around. Prog had been gone for years, new wave was turning stale and the Happy Mondays were ruling the charts. In this climate also progressive rock morphed into its metalized shape: progressive metal. And next to pioneers like Dream Theater and Fates Warning there was also this less known but nevertheless marvellous band Psychotic Waltz.

Into The Everflow was the first Psychotic Waltz album I heard and it rocked my socks off. It's sure the most overwhelming prog-metal album ever for me. They play with considerable rhythmic and melodic virtuosity, yet balancing this against very subtle and intimate passages and very intense, expressive and original vocals. Imagine Ozzy could really sing and you're close.

The opener should be an immediate winner for all progheads. Gentle guitars and keys work against heavier sections. It changes into a huge David Bowie salute when the vocals kick in. The dead-heavy second track leaves no doubt that they are really a metal band. Be it one with an exceptional gift for original melodies, both in the eerie vocals as in the intricate guitar riffing that constantly progresses into new sequences. Inspiration for 5 albums on this one track.

Next on is Tiny Streams, a song with a huge Sabbath feel (even in the lyrics). It was the first song I heard from them and it immediately drew me into their weird psychotic sound.

The title track is probably everybody's favourite. It's an extended and brooding piece with beautiful picking on spacey guitar chords. About half of it consist of breathtaking harmonic guitar soloing. A typical feature of the PW sound but they never had it better then here.

Little People and Freakshow stick to the complex progressive metal style of Tiny Streams. In between sits a pleasantly lighter piece called Hanging On A String. A ballad that is as good as the sweet melancholic ballads that the Scorpions did in the 2nd half of the seventies.

Butterfly is the other long piece here. It goes through multiple changes, from an almost jazzy opening into something that sounds like Ozzy Osbourne doing some Jethro Tull Benefit chorus. Halfway in, on top of some great percussion jamming, an endless number of musical quotations are thrown into the mix. All too soon, the chorus is repeated and the 9 and a half minutes have passed already.

Despite their obvious influences Psychotic Waltz had an entirely unique sound. Maybe an acquired taste but if you dig it, you will probably find yourself entirely addicted. I'd say go in and discover them and who knows, you'll find yourself hooked forever. One of the best metal albums ever.

Warthur I was quite into Psychotic Waltz' first album, but I personally find the followup a bit of a disappointment. Musically speaking, it just seems a bit predictable and diluted compared to the debut album. Where's Buddy's flute playing to give a unique twist to the band's sound? What's with the constant flirting with mainstream metal? What's with the much more prominent Queensryche influence? I know the latter will appeal to many but personally aside from their first couple of releases I'm not really into Queensryche, which might be the source of my problem with this album; either way, it's hard to deny that without that flute in the mix the band's sound became significantly less rich.

AtomicCrimsonRush A Milestone of Prog Metal leaves the rest for dead!

"Into The Everflow" is an amazing album that has received rave reviews across the internet and I have finally been treated to its craftsmanship of technical metal and symphonic grace. OK confession time again. Psychotic waltz have somehow eluded me over the years although I am a confessed prog metal freak into Dream Theater especially, but Psychotic Waltz are in a league of their own.

Indescribable complexity that ranges from dark intricate distorted riffing that blows the wall apart to gentle acoustic and soft vocals that lulls you into a dream. The beauty of this metal is there is none of that death metal growling and yet the brutality of the metal is ever present. The band do not just launch into an all out speed assault without leaving a space for the music to breathe, rather the music is given huge scope with an assortment of fused styles of pure emotional depth. The structure of the songs are astounding with complex shifts in time signatures that are difficult to emulate. There are passages of symphonic ambience and then an onslaught of power riffing.

At times the band settle into melancholy territory with heartfelt ballads and then the next track will strip the wallpaper with full blown metal shredding.

Razor sharp riffing and blazing lead breaks are the forte of the band along with a tour de force vocal performance from Buddy Lackey who is also on keyboards. He might just be the best metal vocalist of the 90s. This band mesmirise with pure metal riffing genius! It's a tragedy that the band disbanded years ago. They have been rightly labelled one of the most underrated bands in history and I agree!

Highlights are here though the whole album delivers some of the best prog metal on the planet.

'Ashes' is symphonic at the beginning, with cathedral synths that provide an ethereal mood. The guitars are gentle over the orchestrated synths with a Gothic feel. Leggio's marching timpani drum begins with huge metal distorted guitar chords crunching in. The synths are beautiful though dark. At 3:18 the vocals finally enter and lift the track to a new level. The vocals are terrific and are similar I guess to James LaBrie but not as high pitched and operatic, a nice harmony too of multi layered vocals works well.

'Out Of Mind' is an all out riffing assault, a relentless shattered macrocosm of power metal with sporadic squeals and psychedelic vocals. One of the heaviest Psychotic Waltz tracks. The Slayer-esque, Morbid Angel-esque riffing is broken by a lead break mid way through, but the riffs continue relentlessly and with bizarre time sigs. The chugging riff at 2:10 is wonderful. This could have been a song ruined by death metal vocals but instead Lackey's vocals are well sung and restrained, and this is why the band appeals to non death metal fans as myself, despite the death thrash metal of the guitars.

'Tiny Streams' has a Black Sabbath feel throughout though ten times heavier. The melody is early Sabbath and the lyrics even contain "? psychic burning, Black Sabbath record turning, " referenced. Then we hear the quote "Don't you understand, I am stoned, I am stoned!" which I believe is from the Cheech and Chong movie "Still Smokin'". Is this an affectionate homage to 1970s pop culture or just a clever in joke? The Sabbath style and references are certainly intentional, it even sounds like Ozzy singing at times. The track has some innovative licks on guitar too.

'Into The Everflow' is a mini epic with many time sig shifts melting the mood swings from darkness to light. The tune has a fabulous hook, and there is a lot going on in the vocal department before a scorching lead break screams in. The lyrics on this get into some dark territory too but they are sung with a lot of feeling by Lackey; "Tortured tongues feast their frenzy, They hiss out all that is nothing, The night time of the hearing flower, Has put aside the laugh dancing flame, No longer warming the wings, Of their fluttering dust angel mistress, The petals have closed for this long night, Their brittle limbs are thinning, their meek and weeping gesture fares their well, To the falling paper blossoms, One by one, down into the everflow?" It is an incredible symphony of blazing metal riffs and a powerful vocal performance. The lead break is stunning on this again with speed picking, screaming string bends and twin guitar picking and harmonic guitar trade offs from Rock and McAlpin creating one of the best lead breaks I have heard. A definitive highlight of the album.

'Little People' has an odd riff that drives it along and some off kilter vocals that don't match the riff but bizarrely works somehow; "Look into these little boxes... everyone has lots of money, everyone lives in style, little people, little houses, happy living little lives, when they wake up with perfect makeup, it makes me sick." The humourous theme is similar to the 60s protest classic "Little Boxes" song. The structure of the song is all over the place but the chaos suits it. The vocals are fantastic on this, and I love those screaming guitars of Rock and McAlpin.

'Hanging on a String' is a very melancholy and gentle ballad in a darker sense, a song about hanging on to sanity and life "that seems to all get taken away? it seems like life is just a game?"

'Freakshow' features a killer power metal riff and funkadelic bass. It sounds a bit like early Slayer in the riffing but the Lackey's vocals and the slap bass give it that eclectic metal style that is definitely unique. A haunting melody drives this with intriguing vocals, "In this state of mind, I'm more than myself, I could reach up into the sky, color in the sun, In the eyes of my imagination I can roll a bigger stone, I've cut the ties that build the rule of lies, And then I tripped away into the void?" A number of intricate time sigs are joined by quite enigmatic vocals. The riffs are strangely familiar at times but always interchanging into new shapes. I like the lyrics on the verse: "So I write this song of mine, To soothe my ears and ease my mind, And so another written page, Will turn into the everflow, Where no one ever really knows about me, Should they even care?"

Great melodies and nice metal tones drive the lengthy 'Butterfly' with gorgeous guitar arpeggios. Little squeals and odd time sig changes in the melody are given virtuoso treatment from both Rock and McAlpin. The song has a Queensryche style at first, with the keyboards as a deft touch, and then sounds similar to Symphony X. Dextrous guitar riffs lock in over a howling guitar moan. The bizarro riffs continue, and it is King Crimson like, in the way the guitar doesn't quite synch; almost a jazz time sig follows, quirky vocals and Evans' slap bass figure. The melody changes completely, and then a new time sig with speed riffing which sounds more Dream Theater-ish in this passage. Leggio's tom tom drums punch out an African rhythm and a collection of rock classics are paid homage to including 'Purple Haze', 'People Are Strange', and 'Fame' among others. There is a really cool vibe generated. Evans' bass is divine here too slapping with funky shapes over voodoo Santana drums. A new time sig blasts away until the keys return over the main motif; "I am the Butterfly? I am forever?" A truly mesmirising song.

I was in awe of Psychotic Waltz after listening to this album and have hunted down everything they have done. You can guarantee a true exploration of true prog metal on every album. This may well be their best as it captures everything that is great about them, the intricate time sig riffing, the manic sporadic drumming, the acrobatic vocals, the fractured rhythmic pulse, the shades of symphonic beauty and the dark lyrics. A 5 star triumph!

Phonebook Eater Psychotic Waltz is a great progressive metal band, very underrated and quite unknown to the the great audience. Their second album, "Into The Everflow", can be easily consider one of the best albums of the 90's (I rated it n.8 in my top prog albums of the 90's), and an outstanding work of a band that apparently doesn't care about fame and money, so the music never sounds fake, like many metal bands sound nowadays (Dream Theater in primis for prog metal), but always coherent and real.

What really impressed me in this record was the surprising harmony between guitars and the incredible voice of Lackey, who is also the keyboard player. Also, even though the production isn't crystal clear, the sound is awesome, so much energy and freshness that still impresses after almost twenty years.

"Ashes" is a very mysterious song, and a perfect intro, with many epic keyboards and apocalyptic atmosphere very tense as well. Very mellow, two thirds of the piece is instrumental. Like I said, a perfect way to start an album.

"Out Of Mind" is easily my favorite song off the album. The riff is so catchy and heavy, with Lackey's incredible vocals accompanying the guitars. In my opinion, one of the most underrated prog metal songs, as well as one of the genre's best songs.

"Tiny Streams" keeps the same structure of the previous song, but it's more mysterious, but still being pretty heavy. Great Song!

the title track stars with a creepy intro, mysterious too, to then explode into a fantastic chorus. But generally, except some parts, it's not my favorite.

"Little People" is another heavy song, reminding a little of Anthrax, with a majestic touch of epic, and definitely really prog, technically speaking. Excellent and catchy chorus, with some interesting lyrics as well.

"Hanging On A String" is the only ballad of the album, beautiful, and that proves that Psychotic Waltz is a true metal band, as well as prog.

"Freakshow" is another heavy song, with a pretty nice riff and good guitars. Not my favorite though.

"Butterfly" is the last epic song of the album, a true masterpiece, definitely must check out around the end, where they do a great and brief cover of "Purple Haze" by Hendrix. The rest of the songs sounds a little like prog, a little metal, a little alt. Anyway, it's mostly a ballad.

What a great album, full of prog metal masterpieces. Definitely essential for understanding the genre, and studying it.

UMUR "Into the Everflow" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, California based progressive metal act Psychotic Waltz. The album was released in the US through Dream Circle in November 1992. It wasn´t until March 1993 that the album was released in Europe. "Into the Everflow" was re-released by Metal Blade Records in 2004 with a different cover artwork and a bonus disc featuring the "Into the Everflow" demo and the Aslan (the band´s original name) demo.

While "Into the Everflow" is generally highly regarded by fans of progressive metal, Psychotic Waltz never really broke through commercially. But to a few diehard fans, they will always stand as the ultimative experience in weird, tripped out progressive metal. Especially this their second album "Into the Everflow" is generally regarded amongst fans as the band´s masterpiece.

The music on the album is a mix of heavy/power/thrash metal and progressive rock. The instrumentation, which does include some synth, but not a permanent keyboard player are strongly guitar driven. The quite frankly brilliant guitar team work, by the two guitarists Dan Rock and Brian McAlpin, are simply outstanding. They compliment each other perfectly. The rythm section which consists of bassist Ward Evans and drummer Norm Leggio also play a great part in creating the unique sound on the album. To top it off there´s of course also Buddy Lackey on lead vocals. A distinct sounding and strong vocalist who is able to put great variation and passion into his vocal performance throughout the album.

"Into the Everflow" opens with the track "Ashes" which is a beautiful synth heavy piece. The track closes with one of the signature McAlpin/Rock dual sweeps that can be heard on several other tracks on the album. "Ashes" segue into the next track "Out of Mind", which is the most fast almost thrashy track on the album. Some odd breaks, some really interesting vocal melodies and a challenging singing style are some of the notable attractions in that track. "Tiny Streams" is a great heavy track with weird tripped out lyrics (Which is common for every tracks on this album). But it is with the fourth track, the title track, that things really come together. It´s a rather slow track which clocks in at about 9 minutes. It´s the kind of song that builds and builds (Say, like "Stairway to Heaven") until it reaches it´s climax with the dual guitar solo, which is just astonishing. It´s a magic McAlpin/ Rock moment. McAlpin and Rock make it their life mission to make their contribution to the solo a personal one. In one section of the solo one of the axemen bends the notes and the other uses the vibrato arm. Small things, that just makes this solo so special. In another section one of the guitarists breaks out from the solo to play longer melodic notes while the other sweeps underneath. A moment of pure bliss.

"Little People" is the next track, and a great one that is. Buddy Lackey´s vocal delivery is pretty aggressive on this track with lyric lines like: ""Little People, Little Houses", "Happy living little lives", "when they wake up with perfect make-up it makes me sick"". An ode to weirdness and a kick in the balls to conformity. This is exactly what Psychotic Waltz have always been about. The ballad type track of the album "Hanging on a string" is the next track. It´s the most simple tracks here and a beautiful breather between the more technically challenging tracks that generally populate the album. "Freakshow" is another crazy technical progressive metal track, just listen to the main riff, it´s quite challeging. The whole track is actually quite challeging with multible sections, dynamics and moods. The closing track "Butterfly" is quite an epic not unlike the title track. There are multible sections in this track, but one stands out clearly from the rest. The mid section of the song is dominated by percussion and a wah wah guitar part that is powerful and distinct sounding. If you´ve seen Psychotic Waltz live, you´ll know that both Buddy Lackey and Dan Rock play percussion on the track, while Brian McAlpin plays the wah wah guitar part. Well... Brian McAlpin didn´t exactly use the wah wah pedal himself as he is paralyzed from the waist down, so a technician in the back helped out. "Butterfly" is the perfect close to a perfect album.

The production might be a minor issue to some people as it might not live up to the standards of modern sound productions but to me it´s what makes this album so charming. It´s got a unique sound, that makes it stand out.

There are many other standout progressive metal albums out there but "Into the Everflow" is maybe the most original and unique one of them all. A truly progressive album that sounds vastly different from the "norm". I find it highly recommendable if you´re interested in a psychadelic and weird take on progressive metal. This is probably the most deserved 5 star (100%) rating I´ve ever given.