Psycroptic-The Pulse of Annihilation album, as reviewed by Mark J. "Nine albums in, this is Psycroptic sounding leaner and more urgent"

Psycroptic-The Pulse of Annihilation album, as reviewed by Mark J. 

Psycroptic — The Pulse of Annihilation (Metal Blade Records)

Tasmania's Psycroptic have spent over two decades being the band other technical death metal bands measure themselves against, and The Pulse of Annihilation — their ninth full-length and first for Metal Blade after a long run with Prosthetic — doesn't sound remotely interested in resting on that reputation. Produced once again by guitarist Joe Haley at his own Crawlspace Productions, with his brother and co-founder Dave Haley still pounding out some of the most disciplined drumming in the genre, this is a superb record that leans into everything the band has built toward since 2015's self-titled without repeating either that record or the comparatively modest Divine Council.

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Opener Ashes of a New Dawn sets the terms early — a measured, foreboding build that gathers momentum before exploding into the kind of labyrinthine riffing and venomous vocal trade-off that's been the band's calling card since Scepter of the Ancients, except sharper here, less interested in density for its own sake. Gathering a Venomous Herd is the record's most immediate statement of aggression, riffs progressing through sudden shifts in direction and rhythmic fractures that never once feel mechanical. At the same time, A Sword of Me pulls the record's other trick — those caravanning acoustic passages the self-titled record made a signature of, opening on a restrained, almost ominous introduction before it's allowed to erupt into a controlled, riff-driven barrage. Our Pillars Fall, the longest cut here by a couple of minutes, is the album's most patient moment, dipping into genuinely melodic death metal territory that should put to rest any lingering accusation that this band prioritises complexity over songcraft — it's one of the more thoughtful things they've written in years, even if it and No Time for the Weak sit a notch slightly below the record's stronger cuts. 

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The title track and To Embrace This Curse strip subtlety out almost entirely, all frenetic picking and turbocharged double bass, and closer Forging the Crown is the pick of the back half — Joe's fastest fingerwork on the record set against the rhythm section's pure drive, fading out into an unexpected Terminator-esque military march that's the closest thing to a genuinely new idea on the whole album, and honestly left me wanting Psycroptic to chase that avenue further rather than wrap the record up around it. But these are not complaints, as The Pulse of Annihilation delivers its sonic gifts from startr to end in a punishing fashion.

What ties it together is the returning twin-vocal interplay between Jason Peppiatt and Jason Keyser, now with more time logged as a genuine five-piece rather than a session arrangement, and it's audibly paying off — the roars-and-growls trade-off has a chemistry here that Divine Council was still finding its feet with. Nine albums in, this is Psycroptic sounding leaner and more urgent than they have in a while, intelligent arrangements flowing rather than feeling stitched together, technicality fully present but never once running the show on its own.

One thing I will say, and it's got nothing to do with the songwriting: someone needs to have a word with the underground about album covers. The Pulse of Annihilation is wrapped in artwork from Belial Necroarts, whose credits include Gaerea and In Aeternum — technically excellent, all stark, painted apocalyptic imagery, tension and collapse rendered in that same desaturated, doom-laden palette. It's good work. It's also virtually indistinguishable at a glance from half the extreme metal covers released this year, in the same way a genuinely great Eliran Kantor painting stopped feeling special somewhere around its two-hundredth appearance on a death metal LP. There's a real sameness setting in to how this end of the scene chooses to present itself visually right now — every record reaching for the same painted, cinematic dread — and a band writing material this considered and this far removed from formula deserves a cover that doesn't blend into the promo pile the second it lands in your inbox.

But this outstanding album, easily one of this landmark band's best.

Out now:

https://psycroptic.bandcamp.com/album/the-pulse-of-annihilation