Scepter of the Ancients, the

Psycroptic – The Scepter of the Ancients (Unique Leader)
Metal. Extremely brutal, technical, complex, and even progressive death metal with strong grind and BM influences. The vocals are the sickest I’ve heard in a long time, I hope they’re processed, otherwise I can’t even imagine the damage he’s doing to his vocal chords. At times he sounds like a fucking bullfrog! Varying tempos throughout the album, excellent dynamics, crushing riffs, drumming that sounds like at least two really good drummers, blast beats, etc, etc, this is awesome. The songs aren’t too long, but they all sound like 10+ minute epics because of all the change-ups they go through and all the influences in place.
Tracks:
1) Brutal midtempo in the beginning, and then it just changes so much, I don’t even know what to call it. The vocals towards the end made me cringe. Unbelievable, there is a sense of dark, twisted melody underneath all the blasts. Practically undecipherable FCC at –0:51 so use your judgment.
2) Staccato riffing and drumming, stop-n-go on a dime, badass vocals, and even some whispered parts. Cool, but FCC at-2:02 (“fuck”). Breakdown and doomy parts at the end, too, what a song!
3) A fantastic story about a hidden society who is threatened by the humans and then destroys them, takes cues from all sorts of grind, thrash, black, etc, etc.
4) A Manowar-ish ode to metal “thrash your heads, bowing to a god called metal”. Awesome musicality, but I could really do without the cheesy subject matter (on the other hand, the lyrics are very well-written, and make allusions to a lot more than just “brotherhood”). FCC at –1:39 (“fuck”).
5) Oh my goodness, I just found out that the vocals are not processed, at all, and they scare me! Funny little tune, probably inspired by Ed Gein, and it’s just as brutal and vicious as the one before it.
6) More of a groove to this song, especially in the intro, but then it too becomes a mess of grind and death and technicality and complexity. Some real neat riffing at the halfway mark, and then some crazy vocals and more of the stop-n-go thing.
7) FCC at –2:04 (“fuck”), but otherwise this is a stellar song, with layered vocals, an actual chorus, and some of the most melodic guitars these guys can muster.
8) FCC at –1:18 (“fucks”), but please bleep it out cuz this song rules! Major guitar wizardry at work, and the story is really neat, too.
9) The requisite epic closing track, this takes the crown as the coolest, most unique of fantasy stories in metal this year, with an awesome ending chorus.