Psycroptic - The Inherited Repression Review

Australia itself is a fairly geographically remote location, but for arguably the nation’s biggest metal export to come from Tasmania – the small island at the bottom of the country – it’s a pretty big deal. Psycroptic have been delivering their lethal brand of technical death metal for over decade, and started truly making big international waves with the release of fourth album, and first through Nuclear Blast, 2008’s Ob(servant). Three and a half years after the release of that LP, the Tassie four-piece’s new record The Inherited Repression promises to be one the landmark death metal releases of 2012.

It’s damn obvious that the Haley brothers Joe (guitar/production) and drummer Dave, Psycroptic’s main songwriters, have decided to really focus on song structures and laying down some seriously fantastic guitar riffage on The Inherited Repression, and while it might be easier to grasp straight-away, the band are just as technical as they have ever been – just check out the innovative guitar work and relentless drums on “The Throne Of Kings” for a prime example.

On the other hand, the seriously head-bobbing riff’s during “Forward To Submission”, “From Scribe To Ashes” and “The Sleepers Have Awoken” are something that really shows off the biggest new aspect that the album, and band, possesses; groove, and lots of it.

Opening track “Carriers Of The Plague” is among the finest tunes ever penned by the band, and is a master class in death metal songwriting; heavy and aggressive as all hell, but instantly memorable and will surely open up the band’s upcoming tours for quite a while to come. The exotic nylon-string guitar intros of “Deprivation” and “Euphorinasia” are nice touches, with the complex playing highlighting another side of Joe Haley’s criminally underrated guitar virtuosity.

Speaking of the axeman, Haley’s production is perfect balance between polished and raw, and the drum sound especially is a big step up from their previous record. Vocalist Jason Peppiatt, who has received criticism in the past, has never sounded better, while Haley’s brother Dave further solidifies his reputation as one of the leading drummers in extreme metal, with intricate fills and touches warmly complimenting the more straight-ahead rhythms.

The endless assault of riffs can get tiring after a while, and it will take you a few spins for the mountain of tech-death goodness to sink in, but once it does the hooks stay firmly embedded into your brain. It might only be a month into 2012, but we already have a strong contender for one of the year’s finest albums with Psycroptic’s opus The Inherited Repression. Whether you’re a life-long fan of extreme metal, or completely uninitiated to the genre, you need to hear this record.

(released February 7, 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.