PSYCROPTIC – The Pulse Of Annihilation

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7.0

• Bands:
  PSYCROPTIC
• Duration: 00:38:38
• Available from: 07/17/2026
• Label:

• Metal Blade Records

If it is true that perseverance pays, Psycroptic could become an exemplary element of this principle: after their distant debuts released independently, the subsequent move to a record giant like Nuclear Blast and the return to a minor label like Prosthetic, the Australians today release their first work under Metal Blade Records and marking, twenty-seven years after their formation, the band's return to the “world that matters”.

We had left them, now four years ago, to a particularly experimental period attentive to the development of atmospheric passages contained in “Divine Council”, while the basic approach with which the new “The Pulse Of Annihilation” was conceived and developed seems to change again: perhaps also in view of the renewed and expanded visibility due to the new label, the guitarist and composer Joe Haley partly abandons the complexities of the past and favors a drier, more pragmatic writing style, heavily focused on the groove and on a rather unusual structural simplicity for Psycroptic.

The shorter length of many of the songs on the album, in fact, go hand in hand with much more synthesized patterns and arrangements than in the past, concentrating many of the mastermind's acrobatic riffs in a song form that is always clearly recognizable and underlined. Rather unexpectedly, therefore, songs like “Gathering a Venomous Herd”, “No Time For The Weak” and “No Blade Of Grass” come very close to the work of a groove metal band par excellence like Lamb Of God, which, to date, seems to represent the most fitting comparison to which to compare the proposal contained in “The Pulse Of Annihilation”.

Even David Haley's drumming style, centered on fairly linear tempos performed with the hands combined with more intricate bass drum solfeggios, seems to closely reflect the rhythmic idea developed by Chris Adler many years ago, relegating his famous blast-beat to a few limited passages and denser scores directly approachable to death metal.
Even the more atmospheric spirit that dominated the previous album release seems confined today to a few quick passages in “Ashes Of A New Dawn” and “Forging The Crown”, finding a way to develop concretely only in the central “Our Pillars Fall”, not surprisingly one of the best moments of the entire album.

It is worth pointing out that the class possessed by Psycroptic, as well as their executive and compositional skill, is certainly not in doubt: Haley's crazy riffs are always present in large quantities, the choice to divide the vocal parts between two singers (the long-lived Peppiat on the growl and Kayser of Origin on the screaming) gives dynamics and variety, and the album flows quickly without hitches or blockages. However, it is impossible not to notice a diminished dose of personality and a general simplification which will perhaps earn the four from Tasmania a few more fans, but will certainly leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth of those who appreciated the indomitable spirit of this band's more ancient discography or the pathos-rich one of its more recent one.