The supreme Tasmanian devils known as Psycroptic will bless tech-death fans everywhere with a seventh album entitled As The Kingdom Drowns on November 9, 2018. The first single, released today, has a world of riffs inside the bounds of a very digestible song. In other words, “We Are The Keepers” is pure fire. Have a listen.
Psycroptic always had a talent for building solid songs around easily memorable riffs. In plain English, they know how to write a hook. Within this simple framework, the band’s core of brothers Joe (guitar) and Alex (drums) Haley offer plenty of tech-y fireworks. What we hear above in “We Are The Keepers” proves this approach continues to work. Psycroptic made their 2015 self-titled album, a rather spartan affair with straight brutality, melodies that recurred throughout the album, and minimal atmosphere. If “We Are The Keepers” is any indication, then As The Kingdom Drowns will not sound like that, being more atmospheric along the lines of 2012’s The Inherited Repression and 2008’s Ob(Servant); a fan favourite.
Hardly content with sleeping in their home town of Hobart, the band toured internationally no fewer than four times in support of Psycroptic. Watch this space for tour announcements. In the meantime, pre-orders of As The Kingdom Drowns can be made at Psycroptic’s web site and Bandcamp page.