The Haley brothers are one of Australia's best brotherly guitarist-drummer combos, and in both Ruins and Psycroptic (as well as individual contributions to the likes of Aborted and The Amenta) have formed a name for themselves as having a uniquely technical sound that translates well whether applied to black or death. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Ruins, whose 2009 opus Cauldron especially impressed, but Psycroptic have earned themselves tech-death kudos aplenty, and full-length number five will continue to get them praise, not least because it's bravely continuing to move away from the hallowed purity of Sceptre Of The Ancients towards a colder death/thrash sound that has similarities to recent Decapitated in ways. Psycroptic are less about the grooves and more about the melodies, however, impressing with skill and songcraft - the opening of first track Carriers Of The Plague hits you with an instant groovy hook, true, but it's the ensuing waves of riffs that will grip, along with drummer Dave's skilful battery.

A minor production nuisance of 2008's (Ob)Servant doesn't appear to be present this time, and the drumming is easier to hear. Some will still be offended by vocalist Jason Peppiatt's hardcore yell, and by guitarist Joe's lack of solos, but so skilful are his varied contributions, and so fittingly violent is Jason's voice, that it all makes a mad kind of sense. This is only heightened by the little atmospheric breaks with tribal percussion and echoing symphonic thuds, giving the music an epic feel that makes the disappointingly normal artwork matter little. Forward To Submission's grand build-up has considerable prog value, the awkwardly-galloping riffage propelling the attack which is given wings and bite by Dave's near-constant percussive bells and whistles.

Psycroptic cover their tech-death skeleton so well with death/thrash flesh, riffs firing off constantly and drums an ever-moving patter, that it's hard to say what exactly about this album is different from previous albums. Few would listen to The Throne Of Kings and not be impressed by the sheer skill of what they were hearing; I spent most of my first listen to The Inherited Repression in a whirl of breathless amazement. It's a nice experience to be stunned by technicality, even if (like me) you are completely ignorant of what finger gyrations the members are going through to produce what you're hearing. Unmasking The Traitors' seemingly straightforward chug soon reveals itself to have quite fascinating depth, for example, whilst Become The Cult's oddly catchy riffage and Deprivation's jingly introduction will stay in your head. Rarely are sections of Psycroptic's music so easy to pick out, however, and you'll enjoy the album as a whole rather than specific hooks in general.

I brought up Psycroptic's countrymen Alchemist in my review of (Ob)Servant and I'm going to do so again here, both bands having enjoyably aggressive but experimental takes on their respective metal subgenres, and it's hard not to listen to the riff patterns of the likes of Euphorinasia here and mentally compare. As talented as both bands are, it's Psycroptic that draw you in with speedy, blurred technicality the best - repeated listens act as a slow-motion to reveal the detail, and each new listen reveals more. What more do you need from technical metal than this? A beyond-solid album that I am sure I will look back on as a brilliant one come the end of the year.