PSYCROPTIC
Australian death metal legends announce eighth album ‘Divine Council‘
Out August 5 on EVP Recordings (Australia/NZ), Prosthetic Records (worldwide)
More than two decades deep, and preparing to release their eighth studio album, PSYCROPTIC are in fine fettle. The follow up to 2018’s As The Kingdom Drowns is on the horizon, and Divine Council sees the Australian band ready to push their creative boundaries in new ways as part of their ethos to always keep things fresh – both for themselves and their listeners.
Brothers Dave Haley (drums) and Joe Haley (guitar), have steered PSYCROPTIC through different shades of death metal, from the technical to the experimental. Longtime vocalist and lyricist Jason Peppiatt and bassist Todd Stern have further embellished the sound of the band, helping to create something that is distinctively PSYCROPTIC even as it evolves. Their years on the road performing with the likes of Archspire, Misery Index, Nile and Dismember not only helped refine their sound, it opened them up to a wider network of potential collaborators that has truly borne fruit on Divine Council.
Jason Keyser of Origin has long been considered a part of the PSYCROPTIC extended family, and on Divine Council a new facet to that relationship has been explored creatively as he contributes vocals to the album tracks. As Peppiatt wrote the lyrics and vocal patterns, he was able to utilise an extended palette of vocal styles to further enhance his own, courtesy of Keyser. Alongside guest vocals from Amy Wiles, PSYCROPTIC have hit upon a collective vocal style that complements the serious songwriting chops of the Haleys.
With writing and recording punctuated by a pandemic and subsequent strict lockdowns, Divine Council was recorded in various locations across Australia and North America. Drums were tracked at Anubis Studios by Chris Thelemco, bass was captured by Justin Spaeth at Cave Bound Studio, and guitars, vocals and synths were recorded by the band’s own Joe Haley at his Crawlspace Studios before he mixed and mastered the album. Their physical separation doesn’t detract from the final product – from the break-neck beginnings of Rend Asunder through to the closing pummeling of Exitus – PSYCROPTIC barely leave a moment to come up for air before the final synths signal the end.
The suffocating atmosphere carries through to the lyrics that detail the myriad ways that human beings waste, destroy or devalue what’s in front of them. With narrative threads that throw back to tracks on both their self-titled album and As The Kingdom Drowns, PSYCROPTIC have found yet more new ways to explore human’s inherent inability to see the bigger picture – or change track before a miserable demise becomes a crushing inevitability.
Album artwork comes courtesy of the prolific Eliran Kantor who emotes through fluid brushstrokes, providing the evocative cherry on top of an album that is crushing in a thousand different ways. Divine Council is an album that oozes confidence, maturity and a relaxed self assurance befitting of a band with a rich legacy behind them and an unconstrained future ahead of them.
