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Psycroptic - The Scepter Of The Ancients
(Independent) |
What can we say about Psycroptic? They released a jaw-dropping debut in the shape of The Isle of the Disenchantment, in the process showing up every small-time band toiling away in the shadows complaining about how they can’t afford to put out a decent album. They didn’t just emerge on the Australian metal scene with that release; they exploded into it in a nuclear mushroom cloud of inspiration and talent, and the intervening years have just seen their following grow larger and larger with each passing month. So we now come to their second release The Scepter of the Ancients – and fans will be gladdened to hear that Psycroptic have just gone from strength to strength.
With their Lord of the Rings-ish cover art, the band have further elevated themselves above the gore-and-blood pack by honing their already incredibly articulate, intense and idiosyncratic death metal while further fleshing out the character of their sound. Relentless jackhammering is one thing, and Psycroptic do it just as well if not better than the rest – see ‘Skin Coffin’ and ‘Planetary Discipline’ for them at their grinding best – but this band is so much more than that. Unconventional song structures combined with twisted riffs and rhythms have always been at the heart of the Psycroptic beast, and on this album they really are firing with all cylinders. ‘The Colour of Sleep’ and ‘Cruelty Incarnate’ have amazingly memorable riffs that at once scathe and inspire, and the band have also sprinkled newer more melodic elements into the sound, such as the clean strumming that bridges ‘Lacertine Forest’ and ‘Psycrology’ and the brilliant multi-layered miasma that ends the epic ‘The Scepter of Jaar-Gilon’. The rhythms are once again top-notch, with each song consistently moving through a number of distinct phases and tempos, all driven by the fantastically intricate drum patterns and arrangements.
As well as improvements in the songwriting department, Matthew Chalk’s vocals have also developed noticeably, making him much more interesting to listen to than your usual one-grunt bore. In addition to the usual guttural growl and high-pitched rasp, he constantly moves through everything in between including a gagging-like choke and something that actually does sound like he’s vomiting. While only a death metal fan would appreciate (or even notice) the difference, Chalk truly sounds like an animal possessed as he fronts the ultra-tight charge. They even toy with multi-tracking throughout the record, most notably in the almost choral section of ‘The Valley of Wind’s Breath and Dragon’s Fire’.
With only nine tracks to digest, listeners will invariably be left wanting more, but that’s not due to any fault in the songwriting. Indeed, there’s so much on offer here in each song that you’ll begin to dread the end of the album as you listen. The Scepter of The Ancients reaffirms Psycroptic’s position at the very peak of Australia’s extreme metal talent, and if this is any indication to go by, they’re far from running dry of ideas yet.
9/10
By: Kev Truong
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