Album Review : Psycroptic – The Inherited Repression
The Tasmanian maniacs are back, back to obliterate any garbage music out there. One of the most celebrated Technical Death Metal bands ever, Psycroptic is back with its latest offering–The Inherited Repression and in my honest opinion they have more than lived up to the expectations of the fans. Among a whole host of bands in the extremely crowded metal genre Psycroptic have always stood out. They have carved a niche for themselves. Not as others and all comparisons are futile is the precise definition of Psycroptic.
Ever since the day I heard the track Carriers of the Plague which was posted as a preview of the album by Nuclear Blast, I have been waiting eagerly to get my hands on the album. There are very few things in life which we are certain about, for me The Inherited Repression being in my top 3 metal albums of the year is one . I know it’s too early in the year and a lot of releases to go but I am beyond any doubt. The blend of intensity, melody and groove in the album is unreal. Joe Haley is a maestro and every riff he lays down is a gem, fucking precious. With his hybrid picking and Jazzy playing, every second of this album has been an absolute delight to the ears.
Quoting Joe Haley about this album in comparison to the band’s previous works–” The Inherited Repression is far and away my favorite Psycroptic album thus far, all of us in the band think this. It’s the age-old cliché from bands when they talk about their current album as being the best of their career, blah, blah, but I have to say it because it’s true. We wouldn’t think there is a point of going on if we couldn’t outdo each album prior. We are certainly not playing music for anything else than the love of creating it and performing it. The Inherited Repression is quite different from anything we have done in terms of song writing and structure, and we spent a lot longer writing and demoing the songs before we recorded it, which you can tell. It’s a very dynamic album, the fast elements faster, the slow elements slower, and a lot of light and dark binding it together. It’s a very catchy album as well, you can tap your foot, bang your head or anything else you want. Basically it has a lot of groove on it from start to finish.” I agree with everything he said, the previous four albums by the band have been extremely technical, many times lacking a tad bit in the groove but I guess that is what the band wanted to do at that point of time and as a fan I respect that. In the previous albums it seems like the track is going at hundred riffs a second and I love most of them but before I am able to wrap my head around them, they are long gone. This album is much more groovy and I feel like they have struck the right balance between groove and technicality. The riffs seem to last and I can savor them to the fullest.
The album production quality is also just goddamn perfect. The mix sounds perfectly balanced. The vocals of Jason Peppiatt and the drum-work of Dave Haley both fit perfectly but the best part of the album has to be Joe Haley’s guitar-work [well, no surprises there]. I have been a huge fan of his finger tangling guitar-work and every riff invariably splatters my brain all over the place. Well, I can point out numerous riffs which have been stuck in my mind and playing with it ever since I have heard the album but my favorite has to be the riff which hits at 1:46 in the track From Scribe to Ashes. Lets be honest here, if you have a working pair of ears and you don’t like the riff, get your goddamn ears checked. I cannot fathom even the remotest possibility of anyone not liking the riff, I just can’t. The acoustic intro to Deprivation has an oriental feel to it and is hauntingly beautiful. The riffs are techy, mind blowingly fast, groovy as fuck and all in all just pure fucking ownage second after fucking second. The intro riff to Become the Cult is the prime example of this album being more groovy. I love every track and I can go on and on breaking each track down second by second, pointing out my favorite parts but well, that will take me eternity and I already know the conclusion I will reach. I will end up arguing that every second of this album is goddamn perfect. Get on it like your life depends on it. This just might be one of the most original pieces of music ever created in the metal genre. Carve my words in stone when I say “This is music as it was supposed to be”. Yes, it is that good.
FINAL RATING – 9/10
