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Psycroptic: The isle of disenchantment
28/09/07 || The Duff
It’s of no surprise that Psycroptic are now one of the most popular death metal bands around today, as they started on an extremely strong note with this here debut only to progress to become the unstoppable juggernaut they are at present; I may think “Sceptre of the Ancients” to be their defining piece of work, but this doesn’t fall that far behind, and clearly shows a band of promise that would later take the metal scene by storm – ‘‘The Isle of Disenchantment”, although probably the weakest effort from these talented goodness-knows-whatever-the-fucks (Australian? Tasmanian? Kangaroos? – Who knows?), still holds without a doubt some of the finest material these marsupials have ever produced.
The three openers are trademark Psycroptic tracks (the opening riff to “The Sword of Uncreation” boasting yet another crushing section in the band’s catalogue), and once more the listener is treated to an awesome centerpiece to the album in the title track as well as a going-all-out, very satisfying closer (not nearly on par with “The Sceptre of Jaar-Gilon”, though).
The production isn’t as refined as those attributed to “Sceptre of the Ancients” and “Symbols of Failure”, respectively, the band possibly not having all that much cash in hand at the time of recording/mixing etc. (the band wasn’t even signed), but as a result one is blessed with some of Psycroptic’s heaviest moments, as Cameron Grant’s parts are accentuated to the fullest so as to make tracks such as “Of Dull Eyes Borne”, “Psycroptipath” and “Beneath the Ground We Dwell” resound with a full-forced delivery.
Unfortunately, from a personal point of view, “The Isle of Disenchantment” can be paired up with “Symbols of Failure” in that it has one track that is rather dull in comparison to what accompanies it in the tracklisting (not too fond of ‘‘Repairing the Dimensional Cluster’‘ off the latter); things go slightly amiss with the death metal tribute to Iron Maiden gone wrong “Netherworld Reality”, which only has the one good riff to speak of.
So that about sums it up; yet another highly recommended disc from these talented fellas – I would suggest picking up “Sceptre of the Ancients’” first if you’re new to this band, but then which to choose of the remaining two albums is a tough ‘un. Both are just about equally strong, yet each offer something different – on this, you get songs that are more technical, yet a grittier production. If this sounds like your thing, then Psycroptic is one of the best death metal bands of its kind, and so you can’t go wrong with “The Isle of Disenchantment”.
8 ‘roos eating yer nippa out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2000
- Label: Self-released
- Website: psycroptic.com
- Band
- Matthew Chalk: vocals
- Joe Haley: guitars
- Cameron Grant: bass
- David Haley: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Carnival of vulgarity
- 02. The sword of uncreation
- 03. Condemned by discontent
- 04. Netherworld reality
- 05. The isle of disenchantment
- 06. Of dull eyes borne
- 07. Psycroptipath
- 08. Beneath the ground we dwell
- 09. The labyrinth
