On August 5th, Aussie Tech/Death Metallers PSYCROPTIC, have released their new album “Divine Council” through Prosthetic Records. To celebrate the release, the band unveiled an official video for new single “Enslavement”, and made an appearance at Max Watts in Melbourne, Australia with support from DENOUNCEMENT PYRE, GOLGOTHAN REMAINS and WEREWOLVES.
The band comments: “Well, its finally here – the release day for the most challenging record we’ve made. We pushed ourselves musically to create something fresh while still keeping the “Psycroptic” sound…and logistically it was tough while planet ground to a halt. But, we got there!“
Brothers Dave Haley (drums) and Joe Haley (guitar) have steered PSYCROPTIC through different shades of Death Metal, from the technical to the experimental, with longtime vocalist and lyricist Jason Peppiatt and bassist Todd Stern further embellishing the sound of the band to create something that is distinctively PSYCROPTIC.
Origin vocalist Jason Keyser has long been considered a part of PSYCROPTIC’s extended family, and on “Divine Council”, he contributes vocals to the album tracks. As Peppiatt wrote the lyrics and vocal patterns, the group were able to utilize an extended palette of styles to further enhance his sound, courtesy of Keyser and additional vocals from Amy Wiles, hitting upon a collective approach to complement the Haleys.
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 – captured in the evocative album artwork, courtesy of the prolific Eliran Kantor. 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.
“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.
“Divine Council” track listing:
- Rend Asunder
- A Fool’s Errand
- This Shadowed World
- Enslavement
- Ashes of Our Empire
- The Prophet’s Council
- Awakening
- A Fragile Existence
- Exitus
You can watch the official video for “Enslavement” below:
