Puscifer: Normal Isn’t (Indie Exclusive Orange Vinyl 2LP)

Normal Isn’t is Puscifer fully embracing their role as the strange, shadowy outlier of Maynard James Keenan’s universe. Where Tool confronts and A Perfect Circle mourns, Puscifer observes, mocks, seduces, and destabilises. This album feels like a late-night transmission from a desert radio station that shouldn’t exist, equal parts humour, menace, and quiet revelation.

Musically, it’s hypnotic rather than heavy. Pulsing electronics, dub-leaning basslines, sparse guitar textures, and ritualistic rhythms form a slow-burn atmosphere that creeps under your skin instead of kicking the door in. The grooves are patient and deliberate, giving the record an almost cinematic flow, like a series of interconnected scenes rather than discrete songs.

Lyrically, Normal Isn’t leans into alienation, self-examination, absurdity, and the idea that conformity itself may be the sickness. Keenan’s vocals alternate between dry wit, whispered intimacy, and detached commentary, often feeling more like a narrator than a frontman. Carina Round’s presence adds a vital counterbalance, bringing warmth, tension, and an eerie emotional pull that elevates the material beyond irony.

On vinyl, especially across a 2LP format, the album benefits from space. The pacing breathes. The low end feels deeper, the atmospheres thicker, and the subtle details more pronounced. The indie-exclusive orange pressing suits the record perfectly, bold without being flashy, unconventional without trying too hard.

Normal Isn’t isn’t designed to overwhelm you on first listen. It’s meant to linger. It rewards patience, late nights, and repeat plays. In the Puscifer catalogue, it stands as a confident statement of identity, strange, knowing, and unapologetically its own thing.