I'm not going to beat around the bush. If you're here for a quick verdict, read no further. 'The Scepter Of The Ancients' is far and away the best Technical Death Metal album of 2003, and rivals absolutely everything that has come before it. Everything.
Following a number of invaluable experience-giving live shows, a young Psycroptic entered the studio in late 2000 to record 'The Isle Of Disenchantment' - a low-budget, self-financed, murkily produced debut album that showcased a brilliant level of inventiveness, full of unexpected twists, fantastic musicianship, intelligent lyrics and fresh ideas. Considering the shoe-string budget and minimal time spent recording, the resulting shockwaves created of its 2001 release were nothing short of jaw-dropping and as wide-reaching as they were forceful. Two years later a second album was ready for recording and with the collective weight of an ever-growing fanbase around the world on pressing down on their shoulders, Psycroptic had a mammoth debut to live up to when writing, recording and mixing 'The Scepter Of The Ancients' and they have completely delivered on all fronts, far exceeding all expectations.
'The Colour of Sleep' opens in fairly typical Death Metal fashion with chainsaw riffs, thick bass, vocal growls and appropriate blasting drums, but just over 30 second into the track Psycroptic reveal their true colours. Intricate technical riffing and constantly shifting drums meld with disturbingly varied vocals with an undercoat of thick bass. It's difficult initially to comprehend just how the band have managed to fold so many layers of variety into the track. Pace, tempo and sound are all over the shop but they're bound together seamlessly by clever flow of instruments and vocals. If drums and vocals decided to shift gears from first to fifth, a bridging riff will make the transition hitchless. If guitars grind to a screeching half before unleashing a fresh assault, a pummelling drum fill is happy to temporarily take the reigns.
'Battling The Misery Of Organon' is as equally impressive as its predecessor with many more outstanding sea-saw riffs enhanced by very tight guitar production, truly diverse vocals, delicious drumming (including excellent cymbal and cow bell-play) and unpredictably delightful time changes but it's at track three, 'Lacertine Forest' Psycroptic really drive their sound home. Opening with an ungodly riff, the 4:09 track provides an avalanche of everything that composes Psycroptic's unique sound. Matthew Chalk's outstandingly versatile vocals show as much distinction as the erratic riffing and schizophrenic drum patterns. Intricate growls, screeches, shrieks, screams, grunts and shredding roars are delivered in such immediate succession of one another that, was it not for the lack of overlapping, one could be forgiven for thinking Psycroptic had three or four vocalists.
As the album progresses it become even more apparent just how diverse and exceptionally distinct Psycroptic really are - each member of the band apparently pushing themselves and each other beyond all conventional limits and always thinking outside the box. Some of the vocal work in 'Skin Coffin' is inhuman and the lyrics are excellent, one begins to wonder if Dave Haley has as many limbs as a family of octopi, displaying some of the best drumming our country has ever produced (endless tempo changes, killer fills and machine-gun kicks are only the beginning), brother Joe Haley intimately explores his guitar with a slew of zig-zagging, stop-start axe attacks and otherworldly riffs and Cameron Grant provides the bassy glue to keep it all together.
2003 is a strong year for unorthodox Metal. Australia's Portal and to a lesser extent of atypicality, Israel's Melechesh and the UK's Akercocke all releasing great material, but for my money Psycroptic have blown them all out of the water, and indeed pretty much every Technical Death Metal band to come before them. 'The Secepter Of The Ancients' is 43-minutes of devastating Metal from Van Diemen's Land that belongs in the collection of every metal fan.
Elaborate, diverse, fresh, phenomenal.
- Pyro
(See reviewer's scoring method)
