PSYCROPTIC Streams Punishing New Album "Divine Council" In Full Ahead of Release Date

Australia’s Psycroptic have premiered their highly anticipated eighth studio album “Divine Council”. The long-running extreme metal band’s latest full-length sees Psycroptic collaborating with dual vocals from long-standing vocalist Jason Peppiatt, Origin‘s Jason Keyser and additional contributions from Amy Willes.

Speaking on the premiere, Todd Stern (bass) comments: “‘Divine Council’ is an extremely proud moment for Psycroptic. I believe that it accurately represents the intensity and maturation of the band. We always seem to evolve in a healthy way, and this record is a testament to that evolution. There is an art to picking up where you left off, maintaining the specific flavor that has built up such a strong, loyal, & long-lasting rapport with the fans; yet still managing to successfully level up the quality of songwriting while also taking risks. The making of this record has been deeply fulfilling for us. We hope you enjoy jamming on it as much as we enjoyed creating it in the first place. LET IT RIP.”

Brothers Dave Haley (drums) and Joe Haley (guitar) have steered Psycroptic through different shades of death metal, from the technical to the experimental, with longtime vocalist and lyricist Jason Peppiatt and bassist Todd Stern further embellishing the sound of the band to create something that is distinctively Psycroptic.

Origin vocalist Jason Keyser has long been considered a part of Psycroptic‘s extended family, and on “Divine Council”, he contributes vocals to the album tracks. As Peppiatt wrote the lyrics and vocal patterns, the group were able to utilize an extended palette of styles to further enhance his sound, courtesy of Keyser and additional vocals from Amy Wiles, hitting upon a collective approach to complement the Haleys.

With writing and recording punctuated by a pandemic and subsequent strict lockdowns, “Divine Council” was recorded in various locations across Australia and North America. Drums were tracked at Anubis Studios by Chris Thelemco, bass was captured by Justin Spaeth at Cave Bound Studio, and guitars, vocals and synths were recorded by the band’s own Joe Haley at his Crawlspace Studios before he mixed and mastered the album’s nine tracks.

The suffocating atmosphere carries through to the lyrics that detail the myriad of ways that human beings waste, destroy or devalue what’s in front of them – captured in the evocative album artwork, courtesy of the prolific Eliran Kantor. With narrative threads that throw back to tracks on both their self-titled album and “As The Kingdom Drowns”, Psycroptic have found yet more new ways to explore human’s inherent inability to see the bigger picture – or change track before a miserable demise becomes a crushing inevitability.

“Divine Council” is an album that oozes confidence, maturity and a relaxed self-assurance befitting of a band with a rich legacy behind them, and an unconstrained future ahead of them.

Pre-order / pre-save “Divine Council” now at this location.