Psycroptic: Let The Ideas Reveal Themselves
Australian extreme metal veterans PSYCROPTIC have sat aloft the division for multiple decades, continuing to wreak havoc with remarkable consistency and quality. Their latest effort The Pulse Of Annihilation is no different. Serving up their unmistakable blend of intensity and groove which is impossible to resist.
“We’re always trying to create the best songs possible at that particular point in time,” explains drummer and founder Dave Haley. “It’s only really when the songs are completed and you get to listen back to them that you can determine whether you did a good job or not. We have a pretty organic process where the songs almost write themselves. We’re definitely happy with the outcome this time. We’re the kind of band who is always writing and developing ideas. Joe [Haley, guitars] brainstorms a lot of ideas and sends me files of what he is working on with us not living in the same city. Whether it’s half a song or a couple of riffs here and there, sometimes even a fully completed song, I can go track some drums and get the skeleton of the song down and then we’ll look at refining where needed. Sometimes the final result can be vastly different to the initial ideas. Things are never set in stone.”
“In the earlier days we’d rehearse the albums a lot before going into recording but these days we use a process which feels a lot more fluid and organic. I’ll play the tracks every day, experimenting as I go along, introducing different styles and fills and sometimes the ideas just present themselves to me. I’ll sometimes do that for a few months and see what my brain can conjure up and hone in on. By the time we reach the studio I have everything nailed down and I really like working in that way. It can be frustrating at times when the ideas don’t come but you can’t force it, you just have to trust the process. Sometimes Joe will programme drums but I don’t tend to listen to them until I’ve developed my own ideas so his style doesn’t influence mine too much. I find working remotely to be the most productive method as I can just go in and work on it whenever. Nine times out of ten the riff gives you the perfect indicator of where the drums should sit. I also want to make sure I write parts which are fun to play. It’s all a bit of a balancing act and sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong but that continually inspires me to get better. There is nothing worse than going on tour and knowing a song is coming up which you don’t enjoy performing and that will come across in my playing!”
Since their initial introduction, PSYCROPTIC have gradually shifted away from the technical death metal mentality, instead, opting for swift, ferocity which focuses more on the hooks whilst still maintaining their impressive intricacies. “The early albums were definitely very technical, particularly Symbols Of Failure. These days every album is different and we have no intention of replicating old material. We want it to feel natural. I use the analogy that our music is like PANTERA with blast beats,” jokes Dave. “We like to have that groove in the music and Joe‘s songwriting style is particularly catchy anyway and quite thrash influenced, something we feel like we’re leaning into a bit more these days. Sometimes it is hard to shake the ‘tech-death’ tag but we don’t concern ourselves with genres these days. We just want to do our own thing.”
In recent years PSYCROPTIC have bolstered their ranks, adding a second vocalist into the mix. Jason Keyser of ORIGIN fame. “Keyser filled in for Peppo [Jason Peppiatt, vocals] on some of our North American and European tours and the dynamic worked really well,” discusses Dave. “He’s got a completely different range of ideas, phrasing and vocal style and when we proposed him joining the band there was no hesitation. We all get along great and when we first originally tried it out on The Watcher Of All single it added a different dynamic to the band so he continued contributing on Divine Council and now The Pulse Of Annihilation. He wrote all the lyrics to a few tracks on this one. Some people questioned the need for two vocalists but it doesn’t need to make sense to anyone but us, we’ll do whatever we want. Having both Keyser and Peppo in the band adds an interesting new dimension and contrast. It sounds fresh and it’s exciting to have them both contribute to the writing and recording process.”
Dave and brother Joe are lifers in the metal industry, who have endured everything the ever changing landscape has thrown at them. Despite this, Dave is as determined and as motivated as ever to keep riding the wave and see where it takes them. “We love playing, we love writing and I feel like I’m just this vessel for these ideas. Sometimes I have no idea where they come from. It’s just what we do! We are still having fun and it’s enjoyable so we have no plans on stopping. We’re in a fortunate position that we can still create music that people enjoy and what we enjoy as well. I’m more excited being in the band than I was 10 years ago. It involves a lot of discipline. There are going to be days where you have no motivation but you have to turn up anyway and practice and rehearse. As long as you turn up and put the effort in that is most of the battle. I’ll set a timer and practice for a set amount of times and sometimes I won’t enjoy it but you just have to persevere. There are days where you feel like you want backwards but that spurs you on to improve and it’s all part of the process where if you play the songs for long enough the ideas will reveal themselves.”
The Pulse Of Annihilation is out now via Metal Blade Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS131 here.
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