Tourniquet

Item: Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
Author: Chad Olson

Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance

(1992)

Reviewed by Chad Olson

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Intense RecordsHM Magazine #93January/February 2002

progressive metal speed metal thrash metal

To appreciate this classic album released by Intense Records in 1992, it helps to understand its era. The Christian metal and hard rock scene was escalating to incredible new heights. With Vengeance Rising having signaled a huge shift from the "safe" sounds of Stryper, REZ, and Bloodgood, the stage was set for things to explode. For perhaps the first time, Christians were creating relevant, technically provocative, hard-to-pigeonhole art. And Christian metal was becoming an animal all its own.

Long-time friends Guy Ritter (vocals) and Gary Lenaire (guitar/vocals) hooked up with drummer extraordinaire Ted Kirkpatrick in the L.A. area. After a great debut album (Stop the Bleeding), they brought onboard an unknown guitar whiz named Erik Mendez, as well as former Deliverance roadie Victor Macias on bass. With this new line-up, the classic thrash CD Psycho Surgery was born. The band had reached a new plateau, yet the future would bring bigger and better things.

Late 1992 saw the release of Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, arguably one of the most technically proficient albums to date -- Christian or secular. With what some have dubbed the "essential Tourniquet line-up," the band was head-and-shoulders above their peers. It was "thinking man's metal."

Not only a great drummer, Ted Kirkpatrick is still the band's leading force. Say what you will about drummers, but Kirkpatrick has become one of the premier songwriters in all of Christian metal. With a passion for classical music and composers like Beethoven and Scarlatti, Ted is known for his insane time signatures and attention to detail. With undeniable musicianship, coupled with the amazing but little known fact that he doesn't read music, his songwriting style has a certain accessibility within its madness.

And therein lies the beauty of this classic album. The title cut is a romp through both speed and precision. The jazz-infused bass line of "Phantom Limb" is a welcomed departure for heavy music. "Exoskeletons" has all the forthrightness of the exemplary "Broken Chromosomes." And "Spectrophobic Dementia" has the groove within its confines to lull you into a psychedelic trance. The power of these collective masterpieces cannot be denied.

And if you really want a challenge, try pronouncing some of the song titles, let alone actually knowing the definitions of the words. "Ruminating Virulence." "Descent into the Maelstrom." "En Hakkore." And the granddaddy of them all? "Gelatinous Tubercles of Purulent Ossification." It's about smoking.

The cornerstone of the album is the closing track, "The Skeezix Dilemma." It's so good in fact, the band recorded "The Skeezix Dilemma Part II: The Improbable Testimony of the Pipsisewah" for their critically acclaimed Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm eight years later. The original became a piece of work that helped define Tourniquet. Through its vivid imagery, and use of the childhood board game, "Uncle Wiggily," the horrors of child abuse are seen through the eyes of the battered child; leaving us with the reminder that children are to be taken care of, a direct commandment from Christ Himself. The album ends with the classical guitar harmonies that Tourniquet is known for.

Around the same time this album was released, mainstream music was in the midst of taking a turn for the grungier, alterna-whatever, decidedly-Seattle-co-opted side of things. Thankfully, Tourniquet saw to it to leave us with a true classic: Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance.