Long running Australian extreme metal group PSYCROPTIC have today announced that they’ll be touring Europe and the UK in March 2023 in support of Archspire, with Benighted and Entheos. The Tech Trek tour will be PSYCROPTIC’s first set of European shows since the release of their acclaimed eighth studio, Divine Council, this August.
Speaking on the tour announcement, Todd Stern (bass) comments: „Coming off of our record release and the subsequent US headliner that immediately followed, we couldn’t be more excited to join this killer package as a way to kick off our 2023 tour cycle!
„The entire bill features stellar musicians from front to back, and we really look forward to delivering an evening of masterful brutality to the lovely citizens of Europe. Additionally, we of course look forward to a solid month of hard laughs, as the bands on this bill are equally as proficient at having fun as they are at their respective instruments. We couldn’t be more stoked!“
Brothers Dave Haley (drums) and Joe Haley (guitar) have steered PSYCROPTIC through different shades of death metal, from the technical to the experimental, with longtime vocalist and lyricist Jason Peppiatt and bassist Todd Stern further embellishing the sound of the band to create something that is distinctively PSYCROPTIC.
Origin vocalist Jason Keyser has long been considered a part of PSYCROPTIC’s extended family, and on Divine Council he contributes vocals to the album tracks. As Peppiatt wrote the lyrics and vocal patterns, the group were able to utilise an extended palette of styles to further enhance his sound, courtesy of Keyser and additional vocals from Amy Wiles, hitting upon a collective approach to complement the Haleys.
With writing and recording punctuated by a pandemic and subsequent strict lockdowns, Divine Council was recorded in various locations across Australia and North America. Drums were tracked at Anubis Studios by Chris Thelemco, bass was captured by Justin Spaeth at Cave Bound Studio, and guitars, vocals and synths were recorded by the band’s own Joe Haley at his Crawlspace Studios before he mixed and mastered the albums nine tracks.The suffocating atmosphere carries through to the lyrics that detail the myriad ways that human beings waste, destroy or devalue what’s in front of them – captured in the evocative album artwork, courtesy of the prolific Eliran Kantor. With narrative threads that throw back to tracks on both their self-titled album and As The Kingdom Drowns, PSYCROPTIC have found yet more new ways to explore human’s inherent inability to see the bigger picture – or change track before a miserable demise becomes a crushing inevitability.
Divine Council is an album that oozes confidence, maturity and a relaxed self assurance befitting of a band with a rich legacy behind them and an unconstrained future ahead of them.
Tech Trek European tour 2023
w/ Archspire, Benighted, Entheos
03 March – Turock – Essen, Germany
04 March – Doornroosje – Nijmegen, Netherlands
05 March – Botanique – Brussels, Belgium
06 March – The Fleece – Bristol, UK
07 March – Cathouse – Glasgow, UK
08 March – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham, UK
09 March – Whelans – Dublin, Ireland
10 March – Rebellion – Manchester, UK
11 March – The Dome – London, UK
12 March – La Machine du Moulin Rouge – Paris, France
13 March – CCO – Lyon, France
15 March – Nazca – Madrid, Spain
16 March – Bóveda – Barcelona, Spain
17 March – Secret Place – Montpellier, France
18 March – Kiff – Aarau, Switzerland
19 March – Legend Club – Milan, Italy
20 March – Backstage – München, Germany
21 March – Arena – Vienna, Austria
22 March – Colosseum – Kosice, Slovakia
23 March – Analóg Music Hall – Budapest, Hungary
24 March – Futurum – Prague, Czech Republic
25 March – Hydrozagadka – Warsaw, Poland
26 March – SO36 – Berlin, Germany
