Electro-rock band Puscifer released Existential Reckoning (Re-Wired) on March 31, 2023, on Puscifer Entertainment/Alchemy Recordings/BMG. The album is a remix collection of their 2020 album Existential Reckoning. The original album’s theme was centered around aliens with eccentric characters like Billy D, Hildy Berger Major Douche, Special Agent Dick Merkin on their search for the truth.
Band members Maynard James Keenan (vocals, songwriting), Mat Mitchell (guitar, production, songwriting) and Carina Round (vocals, songwriting), Josh Moreau (bass), and Gunnar Olsen (drums) enlist an amazing group of artists to re-imagine their songs. As Keenan says, “Sometimes it’s just fun to break stuff. Then you latch on to one familiar piece and build something entirely new.”
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross create their magic on the remix of “Apocalyptical”. Reznor and Ross’s re-imagining turns it into an 80’s dark, electronic dance song for an end-of-the-world party. Troy Van Leeuwen’s (Queens of the Stone Age, A Perfect Circle) and Tony Hajjar’s (Gone is Gone) remix of “Grey Area” takes the listener into the world of the digital paradigm where the aliens take over and create a glitch in the matrix.
Another highlight on the album is the reimagining of “UPGrade” by Justin Chancellor (Tool) and Scott Kirkland (The Crystal Method) into a heavy beat-centered, electronic song. Stand-out track “Bullet Train to Iowa” remixed by Alessandro AlCortini (Nine Inch Nails) turns the already dark song into an even more trippy, existential ride. Phantogram’s reimaging of “Postulous” takes the listener into the mind of an alien, with dark, catchy beats as the soundtrack.
Existential Reckoning (Re-Wired) is a fascinating re-imagining of an already genius album. Puscifer did an incredible job of hand-picking high-caliber artists to share their interpretations of the songs and music lovers will deeply appreciate this remix collection.
I’m Music Magazine Writer Meesha Walden
FB: @PusciferMusic
IG: @Puscifer
Youtube: @pusciferdotcom
