We expect only greatness from the best of bands, right? My expectations were high for the new Psycroptic album as soon as they announced it — that much is certain. I think that it’d be hard not to, given their track record. The Australian phenomenon cornered a very nice piece of real estate in the metal territory, fusing thrash influenced leanings with a fairly technical and riffy approach to death metal. It seems like no one touched this thing at this level and still no one has. Standing uncontested in this realm has finally taken its toll.
I feel like, at least for the limits of the genre, they got their break pretty early on. It makes sense given their wild and highly energetic sonic deliveries. Although, I feel like The Inherited Repression really put them on the death metal map for all of us to see. To me at least, that certainly feels like their most memorable and landmark type record. The follow-ups, the self-titled album and As the Kingdom Drowns definitely started paving a path forward, which I was eager to see progress with time.
Enter Divine Council. The first impact I had listening to this album was pretty strong. The mix is really loud and crisp, so that really got my attention. After about a dozen listens or so, that impact and excitement started fading. Sure, my expectations are to blame for the most part in regards to that, but the contents of Divine Council aren’t making this better either.
Now, don’t take this to heart. It’s absolutely not a bad album, or anything of the sort, by any metric. It’s just that, for what is now a veteran band with two decades of on-point brutality, their set bar hasn’t been touched, let alone raised. Of course, this would lean on me following up by saying that Divine Council is more of the same, but that wouldn’t be entirely true.
Divine Council is a solid death metal experience. The face-melting riffs go hard from start to finish, without much in the way of relenting. The vocal delivery is as savage and demonic as ever, maybe even a little more so, hitting home on that brutality factor nicely. The rest of the instrumentation is apt all around, especially the quasi-orchestral ambient, which is particularly noticeable on “Enslavement” and the latter halves of “Ashes of Our Empire”, “A Fragile Existence”, and "Exitus". That epic edge is something that really piqued my interest and I’d love to see what’s in store for us on that end in the future.
Taking it apart on paper, the album seems like it should be a lot better than it really is. Sure, the novelty factor is one thing that doesn’t make it pop, as it doesn’t feel immediately fresh, like the The Inherited Repression felt after Ob(Servant). What I ‘blame’ this on is the lack of really memorable moments. Trying to recall a moment which particularly stuck with me, while not actively listening to the album, proved to be a task which required a fair amount of effort — something which should come naturally and reflexively.
Even taking all of these shortcomings into account, I can totally see Divine Council sitting at the top of the death metal food chain when the 2022 wrap-up comes around. I don’t usually repeat myself, but Divine Council is a solid death metal experience and you should definitely give it a go, since I got a fair few kicks out of it.
