As The Kingdom Drowns is the seventh studio album for Australian Technical Death Metal band Psycroptic and the follow up to 2015’s self-titled full-length release.
The album opens in ferocious fashion with We Were The Keepers, snare rolls blasting from the beginning with trademark guitar arpeggios in perfect synchronization. The track soon hits typical Technical Death styling with lightning-fast blast beats, very tight rhythms and bewildering guitar melodies. At the 1:17 mark of the track, the payoff for the carnage arrives with a solid and aggressive melodic hook, vocals screaming forward with full force and a palpable rage suitably fitting the theme of the track that details an inner battle against a loss of sanity.
Directive opens with a solid, steady and very heavy groove, a nice variation in the rhythm that sees Psycroptic driving the power home. Staccato guitar rhythms in unison with tight double kicks in the verses leading into a foreboding and droning chorus with a dreamy and sinister feel.
Track 4, Deadlands hits hard with fast and thrashy verses breaking into an almost anthemic Rock tempo hook in the chorus with great melody and a hard-hitting groove. This track showcases some very sweet rhythm guitar tone and playing from guitarist Joe Haley and is definitely a stand out track on the album.
The title track As The Kingdom Drowns begins with a short atmospheric section before a snare blast takes the listener by surprise launching the track into a diabolical slow grind, then a melodic technical instrumental section with the precision interplay between percussion and arpeggios on guitar and bass.
Upon The Stones, provides another atmospheric percussive introduction with flamenco styled acoustic guitars, setting up the sinister heavy riffing that is to come, another steady track with slow groove punctuated by lightning-fast 16th notes on the double kicks.
You Belong Here, Below displays a masterclass in speed technical drumming both on hands and feet, incredible stuff, in a genre where the ‘sky is the limit’ in terms of speed and precision, this track still catches the listeners attention, truly a world-class performance and pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible
A trademark of Psycroptic’s previous releases and this album are the hyper-speed, bewildering melodic guitar riffs with drums accompanying in perfect and machine precision synchronization. Production is tight and balanced throughout, the guitar rhythm tone is extremely tight and precise sounding, plenty of drive while still maintaining crystal clear definition.
The drum production is close to flawless, an incredibly tight and clear drum sound and performance that does not suffer from the generic-sounding triggered drum samples that can be an issue in this genre. From a performance perspective, Dave Haley once again proves his complete mastery of this genre of drumming with an incredibly precise and fluid performance.
On a composition level, As The Kingdom Drowns sees Psycroptic at the top of their game, the technicality and precision instrumental element of the album ultimately serving quality compositions and not being there merely for the sake of it.
Psycroptic has succeeded in further defining their style and performance on As The Kingdom Drowns a must-have album for fans of the Brutal Technical Death Metal genre. For a band that is seven albums into a relatively long career, Psycroptic delivers the expected elements and quality on this album, while still maintaining energy and level of progression that keeps their sound interesting and makes this release a highly recommended listen.
Release Year: 2018
Label: Prosthetic Records
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Jimmy LaCobra
