Search - Psycroptic :: Scepter of the Ancients

Psycroptic - metal from van diemen's land

Willo | MI USA | 06/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"lets face it, these days its tough to find a death metal band original enough to be worthy of your listen for more than 20 minutes, but psycroptic are far from this sad barrier. this has probably been the only cd ive listened to in the past week and a half.technical metal has become rather boring, but psycroptic just might be enough to shed some light on a genre oversaturated with bands playing fast, thats it, just playing fast. thankfully, these masterminds don't feel the need to throw blast beats and constant fret strums at you, in fact, every single song on "scepter of the ancients" can go from some insane grinding riffs to almost meshuggah like pounding. the opening track, "the colour of sleep", is a great example of this. these are extremely talented musicians, david haley, the drummer, is all over the place, listen to "a planetary discipline" and you'll hear what i mean, but again, he isn't afraid to slow it down, and there is so much variation in his style of drumming, from his incredibly fast blastbeats to his almost tomas haake-esque drumming, that you might find yourself listening to just the drumming through some songs.joe haley (guitarist) lays down some sick grinding riffs, and some incredible fret strums that will leave many guitarists questioning their own talents. the bassist, cameron grant, is, like most death metal bassists, left in the cold when it comes to hearing any of his basswork, so i can't really say much about him.that only leaves matt chalk, the frontman for this australian quartet. he's inhuman to say the least. from growls so low that nile is giving applause, high pitch screeching, to some really odd, but awesome sounding "burps" that are laid down in an almost rap-like style, chalk alone is worth listening to throughout this whole recording. 90% of death metal vocalists can't light, much less hold, a candle up to matthew chalk and his incredible vocals.the production is superb, there isn't any instrument turned up more than the others to try and prove something, everthing flows so nicely here, it just builds on the already massive mountain psycroptic have built.just imagine what these guys might cook up next.top two songs - the colour of sleep, a planetary discipline"

I'll have what the Aussies are having!

Nicholas Adam Chupka | Derwood, MD | 12/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Four and a half stars.



I must admit, I have been having a hard time listening to anything besides technical metal recently. Whether jazz-tinged, brutal, melodic, or progressive specifically, I can't seem to listen to something unless I really have to listen to it. And when it comes to technical, it is hard to top reigning heavyweights like Nile, Cryptopsy, and Suffocation.



If you are like me however, you crave a little more groove and riffage in your technical death metal. Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the big three, it's just that the overall effect of each does not capture my attention enough the way bands with modestly less intensity do.



With less quirkiness and spastic qualities than Necrophagist and Psyopus, yet as much groove as the sludgiest Morbid Angel and the grindingest Carcass, Psycroptic's "Scepter of the Ancients" gives us one more reason to hail metal, and Australia.



As another reviewer so importantly puts, there are no guitar solos here. What we do have are time changes so frequent that they border on the annoying, a vocalist who is certainly no master, but at least believes in the Mike Patton theory of modulating the voice so as not to appear lazy when compared to the other hardworking band members (as well as the theory that metal fans actually want to hear a "burping" death metal growl), and of course, drool worthy instrumentation.



Aside from the few criticisms you should have been able to infer from the last paragraph, my only other complaint with this album is that it is not dynamic enough to be impervious to the occasional lapse of stagnation.



Still, one must be thankful when one finds a metal album with so much groove that you can literally practice your TRL dance moves while listening to the tracks. Without these frequent periods of groove, which result from an absolutely uncanny sense of rhythm and syncopation coupled with top notch riffs, I fear this album would not be as enjoyable as it is.



Hopefully Psycroptic will add more dimensions to their sound as they mature. Armed with stockpiles of ability and surprisingly lethal groove, this band from the land down under is definitely one to watch."

A new ERA

Fatcat | Canada | 11/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a new standard in a couple ways. The first is the recording quality. Alot of metal bands, especially black or death metal bands suffer from recording quality. Although it has nothing to do with the music, it just makes the experience that much better. The second reason is how tight this band is. Its incredible how they stick even through the fastest and most technical parts. This band is like a fusion of Martyr and Cryptopsy. Martyr's crazy technical skills with Cryptopsy's fury and speed. There is no band right now that has the same sound as these guys that I can think of, so buy the CD to find out. The vocal's really are awesome as well. It flows with the music so well, and as technical as the rest of the group members are, the vocals are equally technical which is something else that is not seen to often. Another thing that i noticed after a couple listens was how catchy some of the riffs are. The rest of the day I had The Colour of Sleep playing threw my mind. Overall this album is amazing, anyone who appreciates death metal should get this, it pushes Death metal to a new level."