The great Tassie quartet is a band I have followed pretty closely for several years. They’re a band who have been extremely intelligent with the management of their musical evolution. And of their career overall, they are inarguably Australia’s premier extreme metal act.
Their newie, which is their fifth long player, is another step forward in that progression. And what it is that they’ve been evolving towards is that fine balance between extreme technical metal and listenability and accessibility. On The Inherited Repression they’ve come damn well just as close to achieving that balance as humanly and musically possible, especially since the two concepts seem so inherently disparate.
They’ve honed their sound even further than they did on their last record (Ob) Servant. Most of the tracks clock in at around the three to four minute mark, and the focus is even more on writing catchy, if still techy, riffs and grooves, as opposed to stringing a series of complex riffs together cramming in as many notes into each as humanly possible. They’ve slowed down and allowed the songs to breathe a little more. This stronger focus on songcraft does them the absolute world of good.
This album is another careful but sizable step forward for this band. They are slowly but surely opening their music up to a broader audience, whilst remaining highly unlikely to lose many of their hardcore devotees. And this, as we all know, is a very hard road to take. Psycroptic need to be congratulated for their efforts.
BY ROD WHITFIELD
Best Track:Forward To Submission
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CRYPTOPSY, MESHUGGAH, DEATH
In A Word: Balanced
