Generally I’m not left speechless during an artist interview. I try my best to have a nice conversation that is lead by both my keen interest in the album at hand and the interviewee’s preferred topics of discussion. So, imagine my surprise when prepping for the tech-death album of the year and having Psycroptic drummer Dave Haley respond to my opening praise of their forthcoming record with the following:
“We don’t really consider ourselves as a technical band because that’s not our goal. This is our playing style. It’s what naturally comes out. We’re not a progressive band (either). We’re not playing intentionally challenging and tricky riffs just for the sake of it. I got no interest in that.”
So what does that mean for these Aussies (and think of me, dear reader… )? Well, as Divine Council, out August 5 via Prosthetic Records, makes abundantly clear, tech is in the ears of the beholder, but groove is the heartbeat behind one of the best in the business. Psycroptic may have started out as a more pure tech-death band, but the backbone of the band—Haley and brother/chief songwriter Joe—have grown as musicians and compositional writers. The biggest shift seemed to be previous record As The Kingdom Drowns, which found the band basically becoming the Pantera of death metal—grooves for days, hooks for a lifetime. There’s a catchiness there that the band really leaned into on Divine Council, certifiably their most “fun” record to date and arguably their best.
It all comes down to Joe’s incredibly unique and dexterous riff style, but there’s a secret ingredient to their success—There’s more than one instrument playing riffs, as Haley explains:
“You touched on something that not many people pick up is, rather than the drums being the rhythm section, I’ll try to lock in with the riff, and I play drums along to the riff and vice versa.”
Like many bands who rely so much on the interplay between instruments, touring between albums was at a premium in the lead-up to this record (for, uh, obvious reasons). While the Haleys normally would’ve found that to be a detriment, Psycroptic turned inward to make the best record of their career:
“We learned a lot from As the Kingdom Drowns, (like) what we personally like playing. There was definitely a different mindset because a year in, we’re like, ‘Are we ever going to be able to play live again?’ Literally, words like that cross your mind. For us, it was asking the questions, ‘What do I think sounds cool; what do I think sounds catchy?” So it’s probably a little bit more of a selfish album because we’re like, ‘Well, there’s no one else here. I want to make this cool for myself. I want to impress the guys with some cool ideas’ (laughs).
“And maybe the isolation helped with really fine-tuning all the little parts, all the little fills. We actually recorded the drums in three separate chunks. So, three songs at a time, a month apart kind of thing. I was able to just focus on three songs for a month every day, just really fine tuning all the parts so when you actually tracked it, there was zero improvising because I’d worked out all the parts. Then, I’d send my parts over, getting feedback from the guys. It was a very unique way to record. I’m not sure whether I enjoyed it or not (laughs). Musically, it was good to be able to intensely focus on something, just to keep your mind somewhat at peace.”
To settle the debate, I asked Haley to elaborate on what kind of band he sees Psycroptic as:
“I guess it all comes back to Pantera. Well, that was definitely a band that’s very influential on us because it’s always about the groove. Even though the riffs are quite technical at times, it’s about the groove. It’s got to be catchy. That’s the overarching principle that dictates what you actually do, and then filters down to, ‘OK, I got to make this catchy, but I also want to make this fun and interesting to play.’ Because maybe I’m going to have to play this 200 times, and if this is boring, I’m not going to want to do it, so for me, that’s definitely a part of the writing process.
“I’m like, ‘OK, is this cool? Interesting? Challenging? And am I going to enjoy it, playing it over and over again?’ And sometimes it takes me quite a long time to figure that out. Sometimes I have to learn how to play particular things, and then at the last minute, I realize I can’t actually play this. I have to practice. Maybe I’ll put this idea in the bank. The next time we record, maybe I’ll push my skill level a bit more and be able to do this particular idea. So there’s definitely ideas that I’ve kicked around for a while, and then the selfishness of it’s got to be fun for me. If it’s not, no one else is going to be having fun.”
Dave has always been more of the traditional metalhead, as is evident on his excellent side band Werewolves, who could not be more over the top if they tried. Dave is eluding to Joe being a bit of a different animal, so what’s Joe listening to?
“It’s more likely Journey, always Journey (laughs).”
Well there you have it: the formula for Psycroptic’s success. The proficiency of a tech death band, the groove of Pantera, and the aspirations and hooks of arena rock. Hail to the kings, baby.
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