Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance

Description

Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance is the third album by the American thrash/progressive metal band Tourniquet, released on Intense Records in 1992, a division of Frontline Music Group releasing FMG’s industrial/metal output. The album was produced and recorded by Bill Metoyer (a.k.a. Gordon Shumway) at various studios in California: Cornerstone Recorders in Chatsworth; Track Record in North Hollywood; Silver Cloud in Burbank; Preferred Sound in Woodland Hills; and Mixing Lab A in Garden Grove. Mixed by Metoyer at Mixing Lab A.

All right troops, it’s time to spin the latest sonic assult by Tourniquet. So set those amps on “11,” and get out your Webster’s Dictionary, Latin textbook, Cruden’s Concordance, Physician’s Desk Refrence and Medical Encyclopedia. Tourniquet is ready to challenge you spiritually, musically and mentally. Thinking caps in place? Good…

The album’s title and title track refer to the optical phenomenon known as color blindness. Echoing the sentiments of Michael Jackson’s «Black or White», (albeit in many more decibels), Tourniquet also reminds us (through a maze of medical and scientific terms such as “strabismus” and “nystagmus”) that “the wisdom of sight comes from the Father of light” and that where we focus our eyes is where our heart will be found. Yet one is not left with the impression that Tourniquet is purposely trying to confound its listeners, only forcing them to think about the lyrics which they’re hearing, and how these songs can impact their faith.

So if I’ve given you the impression that this album isn’t for casual listening, you would be correct. Yet underneath all the $10 words like lacrimation (tears) and avulsion (forcible separation, as in surgical removal – see «Phantom Limb»), the message of Tourniquet is very simple – mankind has gone to great lengths to separate itself from God, and relationship can only be restored through Jesus Christ. As with past songs like «Ark of Suffering» (which highlighted the band’s strong animal rights sentiments), Tourniquet here touches on a number of other subjects guaranteed to initiate discussion. «Ruminating Virulence» and «Spectrophobic Dementia» show how one must rely on God to overcome mental and physical handicaps; «Gelatinous Tubercles of Purulent Ossification» (whew!) is a frightening illustration of how our every action provokes a reaction; while the closing «The Skeezix Dilemma» uses the setting of a childhood game to address the sensitive issue of child abuse.

Tourniquet launches its songs from a sonically perfect soundstage created by the tremendous production and engineering of Bill Metoyer. Often rivaling classical arrangements in its structure and complexity, the music features adventurous stop-start rhythms, duel-guitar onslaughts (integrating everything from Hendrixian wah-wah solos to jazz chord changes) and throat scorching co-lead vocals by Gary Lenaire and Guy Ritter. Package that with a cover and disc which look like optometrist’s charts, and you’ve got Tourniquet’s best album to date. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, February 1993]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/pathogenic-ocular-dissonance-collectors-edition/1523308451)

CD tracklist:

01. Impending Embolism
02. Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
03. Phantom Limb
04. Ruminating Virulence
05. Spectrophobic Dementia
06. Gelatinous Tubercles Of Purulent Ossification
07. Incommensurate
08. Exoskeletons
09. Theodicy On Trial
10. Descent Into The Maelstrom
11. En Hakkore
12. The Skeezix Dilemma

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Intense Records. Available at Bandcamp: https://tourniquet.bandcamp.com/album/pathogenic-ocular-dissonance

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