On Alien, their first mini-LP and Wharf Cat Records debut, Psychic Blood shows up with six tracks that immediately strike you with lush distortion and raw vitality. The Western Mass trio blends abrasion and beauty, grit and shine, nightmare and dream. Reverb-drenched riffs melt into shadowy corners, while the record’s emotional weight is drawn from personal collapse and psychic rupture.

While the name Alien may insinuate the vastness of outer space, the project explores more intimate terrain—disconnection, disembodiment, and the estrangement from self that accompanies trauma. Written in the wake of guitarist/vocalist Jason Vachula’s mysterious health crisis and hospital stay, it pulls from the sleepless nights and inner exile he found there. Yet, despite the darkness that shaped it, Alien is anything but defeatist. It surges with energy—a manic celebration of the lost, the misfit, and the uncontainable spirit of those unmoored from the everyday world.

Psychic Blood formed in 2011, steadily carving out a space in the underground. Before Alien, they released a string of cassettes, including the cult-favorite Nightmare Beaches on Arizona’s Ascetic House label. The band has shared stages and toured with acts like Nu Sensae, Naomi Punk, and Cottaging, earning a reputation for feral, atmospheric live sets that feel like controlled chaos.

Alien doesn’t just mark a new chapter—it asserts Psychic Blood’s distinct voice in the contemporary noise-rock and psych-punk landscape: hallucinatory, damaged, alive.