Aktor - I am the Psychic Wars

Artist: Aktor

Album: I am the Psychic Wars

Label: Ektro Records

Genre: Metal

Release Date: November 1^st 2013

I am the Psychic Wars by Aktor is a single, featuring two tracks “I am the Psychic Wars” and “Burried by the Sea” - good for 8 minutes of music.

Aktor is an international project, combining the work of avant-garde serialists Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Leppänen in Pori, Finland, with that from across the Atlantic in Chicago of heavy metal singer/songwriter Professor Black. In other words: Aktor is yet another brainchild of the genius Jussi Lehtisalo, the Finnish underground hero whom we love to follow here at Grave Concerns.

What is Aktor like? The answer, by Ektro Records, is as follows: “All in all, one could say that Aktor plays Top 40 Heavy Metal with a delicious psychedelic flair that may one day have some fans in common with Sandy Perlman, Alan Davey, and/or Roky Erickson. Truthfully, Aktor’s origins are uncertain and its intentions unspecified, and its music and process are accordingly unconceptual and a perhaps bit tense. Yet the outcome has much in common with the premeditated, synthetic pop music that has dominated airwaves since the 1980s. The lyrical narrative is similarly accessible on the surface, despite its protagonist(s) speaking from altered and/or incomplete states of being.”

The result on I am the Psychic Wars is a funny hybrid of popular heavy metal and synthpop , with a distinct 80s sound. Aktor sound a bit like Falcon, aiming to please many, but they are less cheesy and more spacey.

Aktor brings very fun pop music, something that is much fresher than what you hear on the radio. Something that puts a spark in your day, something that makes you reach for the volume button to blast their songs through your loudspeakers.

The two tracks on I am the Psychic Wars are quite different: “I am the psychic wars” brings us pyschedelia and prog influences, and contains two parts: a slower beginning part, and then, after 3,5 minutes into the track, the speed goes up and the metal machine gets blasted at us. “Burried by the Sea” is an accessible rock-inspired pop track, marked by its electronic effects. Overall, this track reminds me of early 90s video games and is a hybrid of bitpop and rock music.

Overall, I am the Psychic Wars tastes to more – I'm having great expectations for the upcoming full length album by Aktor and would encourage you to check out their music in the mean time.

You can check out I am the Psychic Wars by Aktor on Soundcloud.