### Psycroptic: The sceptre of the ancients

#### 19/06/07 || The Duff

Psycroptic, due to their phenomenal third album, “Symbols of Failure”, are one of my favourite tech death bands – that album, although one of the slowest I’ve ever gotten into, is in constant rotation amongst the CDs I frequently listen to, even to this day, some six odd months after its release. More shocking still is that, in comparison to “Sceptre of the Ancients”, “Symbols of Failure” is a disappointment.

Where I think that this album differs from Psycroptic’s latest is that it comprises more ferocious drumming, less groove, a lighter production and a superior vocalist – what’s more, the nine songs on “Sceptre of the Ancients” are like miniature death metal epics, where little time has been spent on arranging things to resemble actual songs, and yet where the flow of each track is immaculate; the opener is absolutely stunning a track, and everything in between it and “A Planetery Discipline” just jam-packed with amazing riff upon amazing riff – then the listener comes across “The Scepter From Jar-Gilon” (that name sounds like the beginnings of “Deep-Throatin’ Ron Jeremy Vol. 9”), which simply slays as undisputedly one of Psycroptic’s finest moments (quite an achievement, considering the competition).

Joe Haley defines the term precision picking; if you were to look up “precision” in the Dictionary, you would find a picture of Joe picking his nose with his middle finger, a wide, cocky grin and the quote: “You will NEVER be as good as me – fuck you!”. Rare are the times on “Sceptre of the Ancients” that the guy actually shifts to a legato form of playing, and so as a result, this album comes across as furiously executed yet fluidly delivered. Although I heard that he only tracked the guitars once (or never layered them, or something), wanting to be able to replicate the album sound in a live setting, there are times where this is clearly not the case (such as during the twin, melodic leads) – for the most part, though, the guitars on “Sceptre…” come across successfully as one man job.

What helps this album even further is brother David’s drumming; definitely one of death metal’s finest drummers – people like Dave Suzuki have nothing on this guy, as he has the technical expertise yet also the tastefulness required to raise him above most of the competition (he certainly doesn’t practice the knuckle-dragging variety that has plagued many an American death metal album). Other drummers I believe to be on par with David Haley’s playing include Inferno (Behemoth) and Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy – although the style is different, and to be fair, Flo is a better player) – this should give you an indication of how I rate the guy, ‘cos my opinion counts like those upper two sets of ribs that prevent you just shy of being able to suck yer own cock (unless yer Ron Jeremy, I s’pose).

To top it all off, Psycroptic sport on “Sceptre of the Ancients” one of the most talented and unique vocalists I’ve heard in the form of good ol’ Chalky – this fella has a whole variety of techniques under his belt (can’t say I’m too fond of the “burping” kind), which he shifts between effortlessly. Thought that Lord Worm had some piercing high-pitched screams that sent shivers down your spine? Well, I think that Chalk here is at the very least up to scratch in such a domain, just a lot more versatile than his mentor; maybe not as guttural as Lord Worm, but capable of delivering a vicious performance nonetheless.

This is a modern tech death metal masterpiece, I can’t recommend it enough.

10 cavemen drummers out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: Unique Leader Records
- Website: www.psycroptic.com
- Band
- Matthew Chalk: vocals
- Joe Haley: guitars
- Cameron Grant: bass
- David Haley: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. The colour of sleep
- 02. Battling the misery of organon
- 03. Lacertine forest
- 04. Psycrology
- 05. Skin Coffin
- 06. Cruelty incarnate
- 07. The valley of winds breath and dragons fire
- 08. A planetary discipline
- 09. The scepter from Jaar-gilon