As the Kingdom Drowns

When your calling card involves cut-throat, mind-baffling death metal, pushing beyond your limits is easier said than done. Yet that's seasoned Australian metal band Psycroptic have doing on their seventh album. The band offers harmony-crushing speed on songs like "Beyond the Black”, a slow-burn intro on "Momentum of the Void" and big choruses on "We Were the Keepers" and "Frozen Gaze". They bide their time on the roomy "Upon These Stones”, allowing their seething, complex rhythms to fester before they overwhelm.