- As the Kingdom Drowns represents the seventh full-length studio album from Tasmanian tech-death veterans Psycroptic. Soon to be coming up to two decades of slamming, slashing, thrashing, tapping, sweeping and screaming, one could infer that their dedication to their craft has resulted in the Metal Gods themselves smiling upon the boys from Tassie, and blessing them with the inspiration for one hell of a new album.
Metalheads historically become divided when an established act, with an established sounds, decide to experiment, include unfamiliar elements or cross metal-genre boundary lines; “You Shall Not Pass… the metal-boundary-lines”. Fair call: when a band ceases to sound like themselves and the new product seems disingenuous, fans feel betrayed. It is thus a fine balance, a process of successful ‘integration’ that must occur if artists of any time are to successfully evolve.
Boy have Psycroptic evolved successfully! As the Kingdom Drowns included elements that may be derived from black metal and symphonic metal, substantially increasing the album’s capacity for song structure and musical colour. Most importantly, none of these inclusions has replaced any familiar attributes of the band’s sound, but have rather augmented it, like adding an enchantment to your favourite two-handed sword – now with shadow damage!
Tracks in Kingdom are structured intricately and with sophistication and with the expanded palate of colours at the band’s disposal they have constructed nine songs that manage to be technically alluring, epic and even, at times, emotionally-affecting. Joe Haley and Todd Stern’s guitar and bass work are, respectively, flawless: their interaction within songs dynamic and captivating. Dave Haley’s drumming is never overstated, providing form and foundation around technical displays of mesmerising clarity and impact. Jason Peppiatt’s vocals are framed sympathetically inside each song’s forms and textures, frequently supported by sonorous guitar tones. Vocal colour and its layering in production is memorable and affecting, fitting a blackened death metal aesthetic.
Also, among the creative achievements of this album is the artistic maturity it shows. The album contains at least one song of a simpler, more traditional form, and its inclusion grounds the album and makes it seem more genuine – an album is a collection of songs, after all, not technical exercises. Melodic writing too demonstrates an appreciation for musical development, something few metal bands of any genre have mastered. I humbly suggest that Psycroptic is one of these bands.
My only hesitation is that the album will not sound as spectacular live, on account of production and layering. Regardless, this is Psycroptic’s best album yet by a fair margin, from an already-celebrated band. It's not the glow of nostalgia, Psycroptic have conquered the present and beyond, I expect those celebrations to continue into the forseeable future.
- Anton Kalisch-Smith.