Confused? Rise above, to the Black Sun.
-RALPH TRAITOR
Psycho Master El
released 1994 on San Jacinto Records
Jesus Acedo - guitars
Odin Helgison - guitars, vocals, auto harp
Michael Glidewell - bass
Ratshit -drums
By Gene Armstrong
Arizona Daily Star
“Psycho Master El” is a new album by the Black Sun Legion, the latest aggregation formed by Jesus Acedo, a brilliant guitarist. Acedo also is a notable local eccentric whose albums with Black Sun Ensemble, his previous group, have received rave reviews all over the United States and in England.
Billed on this recording as “Dadagaga Acedo, “ he has shown himself to be an unpredictable artist and volatile person, stating in interviews that he is emotionally disturbed. Since making “Psycho Master El,” Acedo has become a Christian and has disavowed the contents of the album, recently burning 400 copies of it in a fit of religious righteousness. Released on the local label San Jacinto Records, “Psycho Master El” is not Acedo’s best work. The raw genius of his recordings with Black Sun Ensemble in the mid-1980’s, especially the much-praised “Lambent Flame,” easily exceed this one. Most of the time on this album, Acedo submerges his jazz-influenced psychedelic rock guitar-playing in arrangements of spaced-out metal-punk gobbledygook. His compositions here seem ill-focused and murky, and his playing has lost some of its clarity.
Still, the “Batman”-meets John McLauglin riffing of “Dance With the Devil,” the explosive noise collage of “Moby Worm” and the pretty, complex “Blues for Rainer in C Minor” emerge as the most lucid pieces.
"I love this track. I used to wonder where it came from—it seemed to have no relation to anything else in the Black Sun oeuvre. Now I recognize one of its main themes in “Beneath the Sapphire Sky,” and a precursor to its gamelan-like guitar harmonics in “Sapphire Sky Symphony.” Still, a weirdly beautiful song out of left field, especially on this album! Jesus told me that Ratshit LOVED playing this song, and it shows. Incidentally, I prefer the original mix to the Sky Pilot remix. Another standout moment on this difficult album is Odin’s lyrical guitar solo on “The Spoils of Mars” (here I prefer the Sky Pilot mix).
-Otto Terrorist, drummer
CHILDREN LOOK LIKE BURNT PAPER (Psycho Master El)
"Psycho Master El is a disturbing
record, both in it's cover art and in it's music. I'm so glad that everyone involved saw that it could really benefit from cleaning up the tracks, remixing and re mastering to become Sky Pilot later. Psycho Master El, I guess my favorite song would be Children Look Like Burnt Paper, just for the title alone."
-Brian Maloney, sax
(Psycho Master El)
"I spent alot of money when this came out went to Mad City
Records (in Madison Wisconsin) and purchased this before even Eric. I think I eneded up selling it
or giving it to eric or someone.
My memory is vague but I hated it -still do.
-Jonathan Levitt, BSE videographer
CHEROKEE MIST
(Psycho Master El)
"Probably one of the most disturbing records ever made, this album sounds like a nervous breakdown to me -really. There is some great playing here though, shining through, as Fred Mills put it 'the McDonald's coffee mix.' For me its Cherokee Mist. I don't think that they should have taken all of Odin's vocals out of Sky Pilot, on CM he sounds great and the auto harp in the middle is a nice touch. Apparently Duane Norman did played sax not only on this track but throughout the whole album and was eliminated twice! Probably too bad, it sure would have changed the overall sound of the record -for the better. I am glad Jesus came back to this one to add it to our live set -instrumentally."
-Eric Johnson, bassist