Style: technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Decapitated, Gorod, Revocation
Country: Australia
Release date: 17 July 2026

---

If you give “predictable” a negative valence, you arrive at “stale”—but put a positive spin on it, and you get “dependable.” Aside from the few bands with careers of continuous reinvention, many veteran groups end up falling on either side of the predictability line, with varying degrees of listener consensus. To give a few Subway examples, most here would agree Soen have found their way solidly into the “stale” camp; Allegaeon might get a more mixed response (“dependable” is my vote), while Revocation are generally lauded for consistency despite nearly twenty years spent clinging to their trademarked sound. 

What about Tasmania’s premier tech death quartet, Psycroptic? With their ninth LP, The Pulse of Annihilation, the boys unleash an album that sounds an awful lot like the last several. Following their 2004 sophomore release—the early technical death metal classic The Scepter of the Ancients—Psycroptic shifted toward a slightly less brutal and more melodic style replete with serpentine, almost thrashy riffs and core-tinged vocals shouting energetically over agile rhythmic switch-ups. And in that direction they’ve continued since the mid-aughts. The group’s sound is immediately recognizable and relatively unique in the saturated tech death scene, but has it grown stale over the last couple of decades?

For me, the answer is a resounding “No!” Brothers David and Joe Haley, on the drums and guitar respectively, play with a connection I’ll never grow tired of. Joe’s riffs mix a tasty blend of rhythmic root notes and marathon-length runs that cover the entire fretboard in headspinning patterns. David, meanwhile, knows exactly when to play in lockstep, when to blast off or kick with inhuman speed, and when to sit back into infectious mid-paced grooves. The two instruments couldn’t be more harmonious. Look no further than the first minute or two of album opener “Ashes of a New Dawn”—Joe’s razor-sharp tone and intricate lines slice you up while David moves fluidly between deft cymbal work, ferocious blasts, and ride-driven beats that get the shoulders shakin’. The two might be at their collective best, though, in the dizzying pre-chorus of standout cut “Our Pillars Fall,” making child’s play of ridiculously complex rhythms and striking just the right balance of mirroring and diverging from one another. Complementing the brothers is Todd Stern on bass, providing audible low end and ripping some runs of his own, and Jason Peppiatt’s emphatic vocals, which only seem to get better with each album. 

Although The Pulse of Annihilation is pretty much par for the Psycroptic course, that doesn’t mean it lacks sufficient depth. Clocking in at nearly seven minutes, the uncharacteristically lengthy “Our Pillars Fall” begins with moody clean guitars, exotic percussion, and even some synth, piano, and choral texture—and its chorus is massive and melodic, backed by choral and synth touches similar in feel to those in the intro. Sure, nothing here is groundbreaking or entirely new for Psycroptic, but extra elements like these appear throughout the record and work nicely with the group’s heavily riff-based style. More predictably returning is a total lack of solos—an oddity in the tech death world—but the playing is so wild in moments like the chorus of “No Blade of Grass” or nearly all of the insanely technical closer “Forging the Crown” that I hardly notice, and certainly don’t care. The way the band meanders effortlessly from passage to passage, at once both frenetic and completely natural, is something to behold. The musicianship and tight songwriting are indisputably top-notch, and at an action-packed thirty-nine minutes, The Pulse of Annihilation doesn’t risk overstaying its welcome. 

An observation rather than a complaint, Psycroptic are ultimately a band with an extraordinarily high floor but a fixed ceiling. They’ve honed a signature sound that fits nicely among technical death metal’s upper echelon, though they never transcend their peers. The Pulse of Annihilation does nothing to take the band over the top, and it likely won’t sway those who aren’t fans, and that’s completely fine: the record will still spend plenty of time in my ears this summer and beyond. The riffs are sharp, the rhythms are addictive, the performances are excellent across the board, and, a true compositional feat, each track’s myriad, wandering parts always meet up with natural ease. If these Tasmanians decide to keep releasing albums like this one without end, I’ll gladly follow along until annihilation’s pulse finally erupts.

---

Recommended tracks: Our Pillars Fall, No Blade of Grass, Forging the Crown
You may also like: Retromorphosis, Carnosus, Ouroboros
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Metal Blade Records

Psycroptic are:
– David Haley (drums)
– Joe Haley (guitars)
– Jason Peppiatt (vocals)
– Todd Stern (bass)
With guest:
– Jason Keyser (Origin) (backing vocals)