Rating: 8.2

Country: Australia

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Neurotic Records

Track list:
1. Alpha Breed
2. Missionaries of a Future to Come
3. Merchants of Deceit
4. Minions: The Fallen
5. Repairing the Dimensional Cluster
6. Epoch of the Gods
7. Our Evolutionary Architecture
8. An Experiment in Transience
9. Cleansing a Misguided Pathoodline

Band Website: Psycroptic

Psycroptic - Symbols of Failure


Cameron Grant - Bass
Joe Haley - Guitars
David Haley - Drums
Jason Peppiatt - Vocals

Being a fan of Psycroptic I was happy to know they had released their album ‘Symbols of Failure' this past February 13, 2006. In years past, I would have had their album on pre-order but my youthful exuberance for that type of fanatical fan-boy nonsense has long since subsided. Beyond that, I was skeptical about what the latest Psycroptic recording would have to offer after the loss of their lead singer Mathew Chalk-AKA-“Chalky.” Did this mean that the exceptional musicianship of the band could not carry them through the loss of their lead vocalist? Besides, prior to hearing the new album I had read and heard through the highly subjective Metal media, Psycroptic fans, and the Psycroptic website that the new singer, Jason Peppiatt, had filled in wonderfully at several gigs. While this should have eased my doubts, it only served the purpose of creating more terrorists in my war. My rational is simple: If a band loses a primary musician then they are fucked. Can you imagine Iron Maiden without Steve Harris? By contrast, Metallica without Lars Ulrich (And Bob Rock as producer) would have been beneficial prior to making the ‘Black' album. Yet, with singers, what sometimes happens is that the group loses its identity or gains another one at the expense of fans whose interest in the band dwindles. With Cannibal Corpse for example, George Fisher gave them a larger vocal range, and a singer with an amazing sickening scream, which served the purpose of helping them to move into a more technical style that they may not have attempted with the more groove oriented Chris Barnes fronting the band. During the transition, Cannibal Corpse was able to mesh their sound with Fishers style without losing all of their original sound or fan-base. More importantly, a lead singer gives the band an identity that anyone can associate with for the reason that everyone no matter how good or bad his or her voice, loves to sing along with the music. Singing makes you feel at one with the music, makes you feel like part of the band, and if you don't play an instrument these two facets may become more profoundly rooted in your musical experience whether or not you are able to tangibly discern this reality. Essentially, subtle differences between the vocals of Ruben Rosas and Mike Majewski of Devourment or Matti Way and Levi Fuselier from Disgorge (USA) exist in pitch or depth, but really it ain't that big a deal to the point that it is almost unnoticeable due to the highly broootal sound each band is playing. In relation, could you imagine Antimo Buonnano not singing in any of his bands, Massacre without Kam Lee, Ross Dolan not spewing nihilism for Immolation, or Obituary without John Tardy? Fuck, just the thought of that last sentence is enough to keep me awake in fear for weeks. By contrast, replacing the lead vocalist may not be the best course of action for a technical band like Psycroptic whose singer is relied on to carry a range of throat theatrics intended to mirror diverse signature changed riffing with more gearshifts than former Detroit Lions' running back Barry Sanders out maneuvering 11 defenders.

Now that I have gotten you all eager to read my take on Jason Peppiatts singing let me jump into the music. Let it be known that I am in fact a fan of Technical Death/Brutal Metal and Psycroptic is a band whose first two albums I thoroughly enjoyed. On ‘Symbols of Failure', they do not disappoint when it comes to the instrument play. Actually, that last sentence is a terrible understatement cause Psycroptic deliver spectacularly thereby pushing forward the clinical technicality found on their last album ‘Scepter of the Ancients' to a new level of precision with this release. The guitar play of Joe Haley is precise as a genius physicist plotting a mach 4 course for the Blue Angels. Joe Haley's riffage is non-standard, non-formulaic creative beauty played slow, mid, or fast encompassing a range between catchy and dark with brilliant tight leads and layered riffing. Crazy is that the ostinatos are frantic yet never hurried. Blazing tremolo riffing compliments the drumming while driving songs to one mystifying level or another making me wonder how the fuck Joe Haley can hold the pick in his fingers without shredding it to splinters. If being a guitarist gets girls sopping wet then I hope Joe scores sweet pussy every time he straps on the ole guitar. Dave Haley holds his end of the band together with cardiovascular dementia and complimentary amorphous structures that provide a purpose for the guitar and bass played by Cameron Grant. Dave Haley has exceptional skills and control, which is apparent during fills and full stops. His blast beats are near inhuman with exact double bass infused to keep the pressure applied evenly. As a whole the music on ‘Symbols of Failure' is enthralling despite its technicality, in that it has a near flawless atmosphere and production giving it vivacity and power. In this sense, one does not get the impression that the band has showman intent on highlighting their abilities. No, Psycroptic play with a smash mouth attitude that makes their unmistakable exactitude more compelling and seemingly effortless. NEVERTHELESS, I am writing about just the music at this point, not the lyrics and singing, which when combined has an enormous impact on musical presentation to the ears.

The Psycroptic Comparison Checklist:

1. Decapitated - More than what their teen-wonder brethren accomplished on their entire catalog, Psycroptic manage to place a flurry of jaw dropping riffs into each compact time increment be it a minute, or a second. Truly amazing.

2. The Amenta - Yup, that double kick sounds damned familiar to something from Psycroptic, but that is cause Dave Haley plays for both bands.

3. Necrophagist - Arguably Psycroptic' closest counterpart in terms of melodic riffing ripe with amazing time changes and stop start tempo changes. The guitar style that Psycroptic employees is more similar to what Necrophagist did on the ‘Onset of Putrefaction' than their second album ‘Epitaph' that seemed a bit too contrived.

4. Spawn of Possession - Signature changes and guitar tone come to mind when I compare these guys with Psycroptic.

5. Capharnaum - One thing about the bands listed above and this one is that they all make a show of having a bass player who is the wanna-be second coming of Jack Bruce as a Metal bassist, but Cameron Grant does not play that way as he compliments the rest of the instruments with his cannonade salvos. Moreover, the only comparison between Capharnaum and Psycroptic is that they both play fast so be advised that it is my STRONG opinion that the next Metalcore idiot who mentions these two bands together in the same breath should have his/her nails removed with pliers. Idiots, Capharnaum are Metalcore disguised as Technical Death Metal.

6. Gorguts - Musically, Psycroptic have an attitude that bleeds through my earphones in a fashion similar to what I have heard on Gorguts' albums ‘Considered Dead' or ‘The Erosion of Sanity'.

Conceptually the lyrics to ‘Symbols of Failure' are a brainchild taken from movies like 12 Monkeys, the 4 part film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Flatliners, with subtle hints gleaned from theories of space aliens meeting Egyptians, and religions like Hinduism, and Buddhism. Other elements found in the lyrics are borrowed from the philosophies, theories, and working ideas of people like Stephen Hawking, Roger Waters, Descartes, Aristotle, Greg Graffin, Emmanuel Kant, Roger Waters, Noam Chomsky, and George Carlin among other influential people whose work I am too lazy to thumb through in my collection or recollect from the catacombs of my mind for further ratification on the part of Psycroptic. Were I in my teens (13-22 years of age) I may have considered the rudimentary lyrics and amazing music together to be especially cosmic in some half-assed Science Fiction/Philosophical meets Broootal Death Metal galactic brew. Instead, my cynical self bleeds theoretical reality thereby compelling me to consider the lyrics dull pretentious fodder that has already been pondered and written about far more analytically. Considering that the masses are contentedly obsequious, it may have been better to feed them the usual distraction disguised as lyrics about death, gore, monsters, and used tampon sucking, but then ‘Symbols of Failure' is built around a loose thematic concept and Psycroptic does their best lyrically to tickle the mind. In that regard, their attempt is positive, but lyrics blended with music make for a sound that is almost too clinical if the vocalist cannot convey the message with more emotion than what constitutes merely performing. While the music is definitely not passionless, it certainly is pragmatic due to the lyrical infusion and singing. For that reason, Psycroptic reminds me of a drill sergeant mercilessly plying his basic training assimilation trade. The objective is not to mold humans, rather the sergeants aim is to create a killer wearing the uniform of a soldier. In contrast, each riff is tactical training, each melody is weapons training, each blast beat is hand-to-hand combat training, each ostinato a cleanly groomed soldier, each harmony is chemical warfare training, and each glottal growl is grenade training. From this perspective, Psycroptic seems as physically and mentally attached to their music as the drill sergeant, but there is a detachment. For the sergeant knows that it is unwise to become attached to his green recruits knowing they may die for loaded concepts like freedom and democracy. By comparison, I doubt that Psycroptic is that disconnected from their audience, but the methodical nature of their music on ‘Symbols of Failure' speaks where words are absent making me reason that the lyrics and singing may have something to do with the sound. Hell, whether the lyrics were written after or before the music I tend to think that if the subject matter were either more lively or deathly then it would have made for an overall resonance that was more spirited for a new singer fronting an established band on their third album. Instead, the lyrics when sung with the music almost make the sound seem ambiguous. Therefore, one either is sucked into the fray with the unadulterated buoyancy of a fan-boy, or temporarily goes for the ride accepting that the blemishes are obscured with the best musicianship and technology can accord, which is ironic if Psycroptic' attempt was a transition from Mathew Chalk as lead vocalist to Jason Peppiatt.

Considering all that I have written above it would be impudent of me to make Jason Peppiatt the scapegoat for Psycroptic' music on ‘Symbols of Failure'. I do not know how much he contributed to the music or lyrics during the writing process, and I recognize that the album is a loose conceptual recording as evidenced by having all the songs bleed together with lyrics that follow a series of ideas rolled into a central plot. Still, the primary difference between Peppiatt and Mathew “Chalky” Chalk is an unmistakable attitude that Chalk has that went well past his throat agility. When I heard Chalk sing the songs from Psycroptic' CDs of the past ‘The Isle of Disenchantment', and ‘Scepter of the Ancients', like “The Labyrinth” I truly thought I was doomed to dwell in a perpetual bad dream, when hearing “Lacertine Forest” I always feel as though I live in a world among lizards, and when I work out while listening to the song “The Valley of Winds Breath and Dragons Fire” I go faster believing that a dragon may in fact be chasing me. Chalks ability to embody the elements of the lyrics through his singing is in part what being a front-man is about. From that perspective, captivating singing makes the vocals another rhythmic instrument that lures the listener; whereas 2 key elements for the Death Metal guitarist is to amplify the lyrical vibe and combat the vocalist (Obviously, the guitarist has other responsibilities other than the two I pointed out.). More importantly with Psycroptic' penchant for story telling it is vital to have a vocalist who is extraordinarily capable particularly since the music of Psycroptic changes keys and tempos frequently. In this sense Peppiatt singing on ‘Symbols of Failure' is adequate but he only seems to be complimenting the music the way a plain tee shirt covers your back. Sure it sounds descent, but the overall impression I get is that the vocals always seem too slow, too contrived, too wanna-be Mathew Chalk and the screams whether by Peppiatt or Alex Pope are generic Mathew Chalk. All I get is “Rawr-rawr-rawr” mixed in with some vocal jugulating that seems hell bent on filling in gaps with growling tones that were far more creative when Chalk originally did them on ‘Scepter of the Ancients'. For all intensive purposes, Jason Peppiatt is what I would call a poor mans Mathew Chalk. I have the idea that this was tacitly encouraged by the band, in that they felt they could not stray too far from the formula that had been vocally successful in albums past. Really what gets to me about the vocals being average is how fucking awesome the music is by comparison. If Psycroptic is a killer Lamborghini then you ain't gonna coat it with boring white paint/vocals, yer gonna paint it some flashy bad-fucking-ass glossy color with enough attitude to both intimidate and score hotties who love a fast car and a big cock. Hell, listeners can blame Peppiatts vocals on the lyrics to the new album or say it is just his style, but I can guarantee you all that Chalk would have made you believe you were the “Alpha Breed”, or going through “An Experiment in Transience.” See, the fact is that a great vocalist in an average or outstanding band can make any topic vividly passionate no matter how profound or ignorant the lyrics. In that regard, Peppiatt only partially succeeds as the front-man for Psycroptic.

August 9th, 2006