''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance'' is the third studio album by the American
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...
band
Tourniquet
A tourniquet is a device that is used to apply pressure to a limb or extremity in order to stop the flow of blood. It may be used in emergencies, in surgery, or in post-operative rehabilitation.
A simple tourniquet can be made from a stick an ...
. It was originally released on
Intense Records
Intense Records was an independent record label whose releases were mostly in the metal genre. Intense was bought out in 1989 by Frontline Records and became an imprint of that company. The bands in their roster were some of the premiere Christia ...
in 1992 to the Christian market and later released on
Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...
in 1993 to the secular market. It is the last Tourniquet album to feature vocalist
Guy Ritter, who left the band after the recording of the album. It was independently re-released on Pathogenic Records in 2001 with digital remastering, two bonus live tracks from the 2000
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
Flevo Festival
The Flevo Festival was an open air Christian music festival held each August in the Netherlands. The festival was first organized as the Kamperland Festival in 1978 by the Dutch arm of Youth for Christ and became a private foundation in 2002. Th ...
featuring then-lead vocalist
Luke Easter, and new cover art (with "Dissonance" misspelled as "Dissonence" on the tray liner edges). Another remaster was released, by Retroactive Records, on June 26, 2020 with the original cover art, an expanded album booklet, and four different bonus tracks. ''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance'' was voted as the "Favorite Album of the 1990s" by readers of
HM Magazine. In 2010, HM Magazine ranked it #23 on the Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.
Recording history
''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance'' was recorded at different studios, one being Mixing Lab A & B. The album was produced by Metal Blade Records' Bill Metoyer.
Musically, the album went for a more aggressive thrash metal direction. The songs are complicated and technical and feature experiments with styles such jazz and blues. The latter can be heard on the song "Phantom Limb". The band's characteristical style of incorporating classical music into its guitar riffs is especially reminiscent on the beginning of the title track. The album introduced more
Slayer-esque shouting vocal patterns by
Gary Lenaire as well as a darker atmosphere. Guy Ritter sang less on the album than on previous Tourniquet albums. It is often thought that the vocalist Guy Ritter left the band during the recording session. However, during an interview with HM Magazine in 2007 he clarified:
Ritter stated his reasons for leaving the band:
According to Ritter, there was also some disagreements concerning the label:
Themes
The lyrics kept the pattern that began on
Psycho Surgery and feature bizarre medical terminology. These terms and syndromes are used as metaphors for spiritual and social issues. The album title refers to
color blindness
Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...
and the title song uses it as a metaphor for lack of wisdom of sight from God. "Gelatinous Tubercles of Purulent Ossification" is about nicotine addiction that causes larynx benediction. The sound samples of the song are produced with Western Electric 5000 voice synthesizer.
The album's final song "The Skeezix Dilemma" uses the board
Uncle Wiggily
Uncle Wiggily Longears is the main character of a series of children's stories by American author Howard R. Garis. He began writing the stories for the ''Newark News'' in 1910. Garis penned an Uncle Wiggily story every day (except Sundays) for mo ...
's (also a children's book series by
Howard Roger Garis
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
) concept as an allegory for
child abuse. The song starts out with a minute of
circus music (organ played by Bob Beeman) which is followed by a nervous child reading a bit of the game's introduction. The heavy metal song "Exoskeletons" contains a short riff of
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
's 1972 song "Supernaut" at the end. The Metal Blade Records version of ''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance'' contains a live version of
Trouble
Trouble may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin
* ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film
* ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Trouble'' ...
's 1984 song "The Tempter" from Tourniquet's ''
Intense Live Series, Vol. 2'' and features vocalist Les Carlsen of the American Christian metal band
Bloodgood
Bloodgood was an American Christian metal band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1983. By 1988, Bloodgood represented one of the four largest Christian metal bands (excluding the mainstream success of Stryper) alongside Barren Cross, L ...
; this track was later included on the 2020 remaster along with three instrumental demos.
Track listing
Credits
;Tourniquet
*
Guy Ritter - vocals
*
Gary Lenaire - guitars, vocals
*Erik Mendez - guitars
*Victor Macias - bass
*
Ted Kirkpatrick
Ted Kirkpatrick (May 22, 1960 – August 19, 2022) was an American musician and songwriter, best known for his work with the American Christian thrash metal band Tourniquet. Primarily a drummer, Kirkpatrick was the principal songwriter for th ...
- drums
;Tourniquet Live
*Ted Kirkpatrick - Drums
*
Luke Easter - Vocals
*Aaron Guerra - Guitars, Vocals
*Steve Andino - Bass
References
External links
Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992) at Tourniquet.netPathogenic Ocular Dissonance (2001) at Tourniquet.net
{{Authority control
Tourniquet (band) albums
1992 albums