(TheMadIsraeli enthusiastically reviews the new album from Tasmania’s Psycroptic.)
Napalm explosions of technical-as-fuckity-fuck riffs everywhere. Death induced by intricate, fusion-fueled, machine-precise drum attacks. Soul-rending incantations in the vocals. And, like . . .
EVERY POSSIBLE FUCKING THING THAT CAN BE RIGHT ABOUT DEATH METAL.
Psycroptic are the shit. I think we all know this, but it’s SUCH a magnitude of the shit that sometimes . . . sometimes there’s a man . . . well, he’s the man for his time and place . . . and . . .
Ok, enough Big Lebowski quoting. Sometimes an album needs to be defined, because sometimes we’re just not ready for what comes at us through our speakers, headphones, tin cans attached with strings, whatever your preferred listening apparatus is, because Psycroptic will cause said apparatus to melt at scorching hot temperatures and then burn their music directly into your skull so that it infinitely repeats itself with no off-switch. The pain will be great, but it will also be purifying.
I’ve seen and heard some complaints about this band since the departure of vocalist Chalky and the introduction of current frontman Jason Peppiatt. Don’t like him? Time to get over it. I think he is bringing a much-needed, more-focused approach to vocals that matches Psycroptic’s surgically precise instrumental assault. He has a powerful voice, he sounds pissed — like he wants to kill — and that complements the killing music.
NOW WITH THAT SAID…
Joe Haley is a riff archon of the nomadic plains, a shape-shifter and matter-bender and a badass of the highest degree. So many notes, so many interesting, complex, angular riffs and melodic progressions. He really is the star of the show here. Everyone else in the band performs superbly, but this is guitar-driven metal. To be more accurate, Joe doesn’t just drive the music, he hijacks the music, curb-stomps it, and then blows its head into bits with a shotgun for good measure.
Whether he’s busting out old-school chops, esoteric meanderings, Middle Eastern delicacies, or just plain obtuse, how-the-fuck-did-he-do-that redefining of the guitar as an instrument, he has the skill and the imagination to string it all together in a succinct, to-the-point package. He is now in an all-star league, up there with geniuses like Schuldiner of Death, Daniel Mongrain of Martyr, and Muhammed Suiçmez of Necrophagist.
But to repeat, the rest of the band is also killer. Jason Peppiatt is indeed one of the most savage vocalists in metal. I don’t care if he has more of a deathcore tone than his predecessor. He has lungs filled with fiery acid and his intensity forces its way into your brain with such ease. The drumming of Dave Haley is otherworldly, so tight and precise. The bass playing of Cameron Grant also verges on the inhuman, a spider monkey of low-end mind fuckery and demonic clown antics. The fact he can keep up with Joe Haley in the riff department is just… FUCKING UNFAIR.
Actually, this whole band is just unfair. This album is unfair. To listen is to be penetrated by the winding hypnotics of an acid-spewing snake charmer as he conforms you to the will of his tune. Buy this album! Buy it digitally, buy it physically, BUY IT IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR SOUL IF YOU MUST. This album will replace it for you with something likely to be more metal anyway.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Inherited Repression was released in North America yesterday by Nuclear Blast, and will debut in Europe on February 10. It can be ordered from Psycroptic’s official site via this link, and that site also has the schedule for Psycroptic’s in-progress European tour. The album is also available on Amazon mp3 and iTunes. Two songs from the album can be streamed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL4cNthbad0
15 Responses to “PSYCROPTIC: “THE INHERITED REPRESSION”
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“EVERY POSSIBLE FUCKING THING THAT CAN BE RIGHT ABOUT DEATH METAL.”
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup.
Nope….THIS is everything thats right in death metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWnd4o00urM
Holy shit that’s pretty awesome. Definitely gonna check this out more 🙂
Just realized why I dig this so much. In most tech-death your usually getting skull fucked with blast beats.While that’s nice once and while it tends to kill the guitars imo. Psycroptic slow things down and let the guitar shredding take control
mindless wankery
Troll, troll, troll your boat…..
God forbid not everyone likes an album, they suddenly become a troll. LOL
Considering Psycroptic show considerably more restraint than most tech-death bands, there is a fair chance that he was just trolling.
Well I find almost every tech death band besides Atheist to be mindless wankery. I’ve tried with this band and want to like it for the Haley brothers. I just wish they stayed in The Amenta. That could have been something special
You know what grinds my gears? This album dropping the week I’m not getting paid?
Damnit people. If you want me to buy your music, release it after my paycheck hits the bank.
So inconsiderate.
On a more serious note, Psychroptic has been making a hard charge up my favorite bands list. I listened to the album stream and it just wrecked my skull and turned my brain into a gooey, mushy sludge. And I enjoyed every single momement.
This album almost sounds too good.
I feel like the only one who’s not losing their shit over this album. And I love tech-death. I even admire the approach they take. But in the end, it just doesn’t do it for me.
I FULLY agree with you on this. I listened and was so bored, I literally fell asleep. Maybe its because my dog keeps barking at all hours of the night and I’m hardly getting any rest? Whatever the case, this album is boring as fuck. It lacks ALL the cohesiveness and focus that made Obsevrant their best album to date. It all sounds like a bunch of structureless wankery, like the band said, *hey, lets toss 500 different riffs into every song and not give a single hook to any of it.* Without a hook in the song to tie it all together, I lose interest.
Maybe you should just stop listening to metal?
Inherited repression, is definitely da bomb, but I still think Scepter of Ancients is the best…the vocals are just insane on that album! their live album “Initiation” is titties on the money as well!!!