Australia is mostly known for its extremely brutal metal bands. For example Sadistik Execution, Blood Duster and most of all The Berzerker have crossed the border of musical extremity over and over again. So when I received the promo copy of “Scepter Of The Ancients” from Unique Leader I prepared for the worst, because U.L. isn`t quite known for the subtlety of its bands (e.g. Severed Savior, Spawn Of Possession and Deeds Of flesh)

But Psycroptic surprised me quite a bit. I expected a brutal avalanche of death grind metal but was treated to a more balanced approach to extreme death metal. This doesn`t mean by any change that Psycroptic are pansies; they can make your eardrums bleed and most of the times the music really rips the inner ear apart, but there’s also room for melody and slower passages. The effect of this is that you have some breathing time between the heavier parts and at the same time these parts sound even more extreme because they stand out from the rest.

Singer Matthew Chalk uses a multitude of voices and makes good use of guttural and normal grunts as well as screams but sometimes he`s overdoing it.

Maybe because the recording time was limited but his voice sometimes doesn`t sound powerful enough in the screaming parts. Apart from that he`s a marvelous vocalist and shouldn`t stop experimenting.

Another great thing about “The Scepter Of The Ancients” is the lyrics. They form real stories instead of tossing around various body parts and spraying blood on the wall. Especially ”The Scepter From Jaar-Gilon” turns out to be great reading material. In combination with these lyrics and the length of the numbers they create extreme metal of epical proportions.

I wonder when I’ll receive a bad U.L. because with this release U.L. Once again proves to have a fine nose for extreme death metal and I can wholeheartedly recommend “The Scepter Of The Ancients” to you.
Psycroptic website