Artist: Psycroptic Title: (Ob)Servant (re-release) Label: Metal Mind Productions Release Date: 5/5/2015 Genre: Technical Death Metal Rating: 4/5
Originally released in 2008 on Nuclear Blast Records, the fourth album by those Tasmanian Devils of Metal Psycroptic was recently re-issued by Metal Mind Productions. The album now comes in a Digipak holder and features no additional tracks or liner notes and does not include the bonus DVD that was a part of the initial release. With that being the case my original thoughts on it remain the same. I have restated those views in the review that follows. The edition is limited to 2000 copies so diehards might want to act fast if interested in purchasing.
Proving that Metal’s reach is as vast as the imagination is wide we get the fourth molten slab of material from the Tasmanian export Psycroptic. The band is one that immediately assaults the senses of the listener with a mind-numbing display of extreme technical chops. I had to say that I was impressed by their “Ob(servant)” CD quite a bit and I was amused at this for when I first caught them a couple of months ago I was not particularly impressed. Let me explain how this possibly happened – the guys were second up on a bill that I felt buried much of the talent involved and with the sets blasting by so quickly there was hardly any time for the bands to win you over with the display. That being said I was glad for the spine-tingling that this CD offered because it was really something impressive. The band doesn’t seem to follow the standard of many of their Extreme Death Metal counterparts, because they pick up and slow down the tempo a lot more than most others. There is a lot of groove happening between the growling and just when you think the band is going to speed up a little more they instead offer you slight respite by bringing it down about five notches. Across the board the drumming is outstanding and presents some truly speaker destroying double bass drum runs that manage to be the time keeper for the equally blistering guitar riffs. Continue reading (Ob)Servant (re-release) by Psycroptic→
Formed in the year 2000 by guitarist James Malone and drummer Mike Van Dynne, Arsis delivered a Technical Death Metal epic with their first album “A Celebration Of Guilt” and this would set the ball in motion on their career and impact upon the Metal scene. Over the years the band has seen numerous lineup and record label changes nut through it all, Malone continued to map out the bands vision and molten levels of Technical Death Metal. 2014 finds the band raising a glass to the 10th Anniversary of “A Celebration Of Guilt” and will be bringing along Allegeon and Exmortus as support. You can learn more about this tour by reading the press release below the poster and then we can examine the tour dates. Get going.
There was quite bit of “buzz” around the return of Pestilence to these shores among my immediate circle of friends in the Metal community and while they were never a band I followed, these folks interest alone helped to firm up my own curiosity in checking out something new to my Metal ears. Stylistically the band is listed as Death Metal but they incorporate elements of Jazz and Fusion to their sound. Their return to NYC for the first time hitting the region in sixteen years would come with a bevy of bands along for the ride. Featured tonight would be local support Praetorian along with Sacrificial Slaughter, Enfold Darkness, Vital Remains and Warbringer. I almost missed this show since it was originally listed as being a late evening show after some discussion about it being cancelled altogether. Sometimes the Gramercy Theatre holds Metal events very late in the evening as we found them doing with Ensiferum who played at 12:30 one time. My schedule kept me from seeing the local openers and Sacrificial Slaughter but I would get in just in time to see Enfold Darkness take the stage. Here is how what I caught took place. Continue reading Pestilence @ Gramercy Theatre (6/17/2010)→
Artist: Psycroptic Title: (Ob)Servant Label: Nuclear Blast Records Release Date: 10/14/2008 Genre: Technical Death Metal Rating: 4/5
Proving that Metal’s reach is as vast as the imagination is wide we get the fourth molten slab of material from the Tasmanian export Psycroptic. The band is one that immediately assaults the senses of the listener with a mind-numbing display of extreme technical chops. I had to say that I was impressed by their “Ob(servant)” CD quite a bit and I was amused at this for when I first caught them a couple of months ago I was not particularly impressed. Let me explain how this possibly happened – the guys were second up on a bill that I felt buried much of the talent involved and with the sets blasting by so quickly there was hardly any time for the bands to win you over with the display. That being said I was glad for the spine-tingling that this CD offered because it was really something impressive. The band doesn’t seem to follow the standard of many of their Extreme Death Metal counterparts, because they pick up and slow down the tempo a lot more than most others. There is a lot of groove happening between the growling and just when you think the band is going to speed up a little more they instead offer you slight respite by bringing it down about five notches. Across the board the drumming is outstanding and presents some truly speaker destroying double bass drum runs that manage to be the time keeper for the equally blistering guitar riffs. Continue reading (Ob)Servant by Psycroptic→
Artist: Decapitated Title: “Humans Dust” Label: Metal Mind Productions Release Date: 7/8/2008 Genre: Technical Death Metal Rating: 4/5
In the world of Extreme Technical Death Metal there were definitely few bands that were as capable as the guys in Decapitated. They were young, and on top of their game very early into their career and this DVD is chock full of treats for their fans to slaver over since it gives them three concert appearances with their first singer Sauron and each tune is more intense than the last. It presents the band across the span of a couple of years and begins with a show filmed in 2002 while the band was on tour with Vader and Krisiun (wow, talk about a killer show) and the band is definitely on point as they pummel the audience with brain dizzying riffs. Of course one can find amusement as the fans are mostly just head banging as opposed to being immersed in a pit to end all pits, and the more I see these videos from Metal Mind Productions I am convinced that doing such a thing is prohibited while filming is taking place. The 2002 show features the greatness of “Winds Of Creation” and “Suffer The Children” and while Vogg’s riffs are capable of searing the flesh the drumming of Vitek just drives the intensity home. The shooting of this show is a little bit frenetic and finds the band being swapped around from member to member very quickly. This might bother some viewers but I like this kind of music with interesting camera work as opposed to a straight on visual aspect. While the show is rather short, at eight songs it seems more than enough to show the assembled fans that they meant business and we actually adept at what they set out to do. I’m not certain why this was set up in this fashion and instead of being able to flip through the concerts, you essentially watched this main program and then needed to move on to the bonus features for the rest. The great aspect of this would be that ones Metal adventure is only beginning as the last chords of the 2002 show have played. Continue reading “Humans Dust” by Decapitated→
