This is the ninth album from Australian death metallers Psycroptic.
Whether it’s 2015’s Psycroptic, 2018’s As the Kingdom Drowns, or 2022’s Divine Council, Psycroptic always put out something special. The Pulse of Annihilation is no exception to this trend, as the band spend 40 minutes showing once again just why they are so highly regarded by extreme metal connoisseurs.
Psycroptic play technical death metal of an uncommon type. Why uncommon? Well, basically because the technicality on display is only a means to an end. While lesser bands focus on flashy ostentation for the sake of it, Psycroptic focus on actual songs, with melodic depth and way more feeling and emotional content than is normal for any death metal band. In short, Psycroptic have forged their own unique space in death metal’s killing grounds, and they absolutely dominate it.
Which brings us to The Pulse of Annihilation, Psycroptic’s latest opus. As usual, it sounds exactly like Psycroptic, yet also has a personality of its own within the band’s enviable discography.
Riffs riffs riffs! Psycroptic bring the riffs. Rather than stringing them together thoughtlessly though – which would have been impressive enough considering their quality – they’re arranged by well-considered songwriting into something remarkably affecting. This is not just a product of the guitars of course, but of every instrument working together to produce something greater than the some of its parts. This includes the vocals, which are as individually rendered and passionately delivered as ever, (with top tier additional growls from the formidable singer of Origin).
It’s worth stating again that one of the keys to Psycroptic’s success is their ability to make the listener feel, to take them on an evocative journey, to provide expressive soundscapes for the listener to explore at length. That they do this through the medium of catchy, hook-filled death metal is extraordinary. You can overanalyse this, and start talking about emergent properties arising from complexity, but ultimately, Psycroptic simply know their art extremely well. This is death metal, intelligently built, rich in atmosphere, dense in complexity, and delivered with feeling.
More than this though, Psycroptic albums are also just damn fun to listen to. The Pulse of Annihilation is hideously enjoyable. When experiencing Psycroptic, you can get lost in their emotive melodies, you can marvel at their technical skill, but you can also just dance like a motherfucker. Ideally, all at once. The Pulse of Annihilation is a beast.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 