Episode 22 – Weeping Suns & Churning Seas: An Examination of Pyogenesis’ Twinaleblood

It would be inaccurate to say that Germany’s Pyogenesis is underrated because, in fact, they have hardly ever been rated at all. Over the course of their career – which is still in process – Pyogenesis worked across a wide swath of genres, including death/doom and alternative metal, before settling on a mostly-unsuccessful foray into pop-punk. The 22nd installment of Radical Research dedicates most of its time to the band’s finest piece of music, 1995’s inscrutably-titled, Twinaleblood. Our 70-minute conversation digs in deeply to the album’s daring mosaic of sounds and styles, which ranges from the Type O Negative grandeur of “Undead” to the hooky alternative rock of “Weeping Sun.” The album was an island in 1995 and remains so in 2018, bearing the visionary mark. Note I: Immense appreciation to RR listener Giorgos Ketigenis for supplying mp3s of the early demo and 7 inch tracks. Note II: Hunter knows The Archaic Course is a Borknagar album and not an Arcturus one. We both get excited and lose our minds a little when it comes to discussing the best performances of vocalist Simen Hestnaes. Incidentally, Jeff believes Simen’s performance on Arcturus’s Arcturian is one of the best in metal history. And there’s your Norwegian metal reference for this episode. Note III: Way back in episode 4 (Disharmonic Orchestra) we discuss the interesting heritage of the laugh in metal music. Listener and doggone brilliant observationist Forrest Pitts reminded us about Tim Asmodeus’s laugh on Pyogenesis song “In the End.” It’s not in the part we sample this episode -- we had already recorded -- but it's absolutely worth noting. Haw haw haw! Please keep the laugh-spotting coming, people. Might be a cool subject for a point-5 episode at some juncture. Note IV: Tim was also in a band called G.U.T. at the same time Pyogenesis was getting started. We wanted to mention that but conversation took us elsewhere. They were nuts. Check it out if you dare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvUB-y4Lz4 Music cited, in order of appearance: “Considering the Majesty of Doom” (Ode to the Churning Seas of Nar-Mataru demo, 1991) “Lowland of Impiety” (Sacrificious Profanity 7”, 1992) “Still Burn in Fire” (Ignis Creatio, 1992) “In the End” (Waves of Erotasia, 1994) “Fade Away” (Sweet X-Rated Nothings, 1994) “Undead” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Twinaleblood” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Weeping Sun” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Every Single Day” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Abstract Life” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Those Churning Seas” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “God Complex” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Mutz Umst Erben” (Twinaleblood bonus track, 1995) “Supavenus” (Twinaleblood, 1995) “Love Nation Sugarhead” (Love Nation Sugarhead - EP, 1996) episode 23 preview: Crack the Sky, “Virgin…No” (Animal Notes, 1976)