In the Deathcore arms race, there are moments that stand out for better or worse in recent history. From that moment in ‘To The Hellfire’ by Lorna Shore, the entirety of Killing Of A Sacred Deer’s rusty machete insidiousness to the dodgeball snare Slam insanity of Peeling Flesh, recent times have shown that the quest for unparalleled levels of sonic extremity is still in full swing. Of course, Deathcore as a whole has a pretty heavy baseline but the aforementioned bands among others seem intent on blending elements from other genres and turning it up to 11 in ways that seek to leave you a gibbering wreck.
It would be silly to not count PSYCHO-FRAME as frontrunners in this current pack. Across the last two years, they’ve almost single handedly raised the bar for speed, brutality and utter contempt for eardrums in heavy music. With drums akin to high power machine guns (Shout-out to Leo McClain, who in a cast of phenomenal musicians manages to impress the most), bewildering and incendiary guitar riffs designed to make you want to headbutt the nearest authority figure and vocals that flit between a pigs death rattle and sulphuric belches from hell, it’s a frightening mix.
What sets Psycho Frame apart from other bands is their makeup. Not just deathcore kids, they share members with the alluring alt-rock band Moodring and on some levels, traces of that band come through. For the most part however, this is a different beast (Emphasis on beast) entirely. Elements of Dying Fetus, Suffocation and early Job For A Cowboy are woven together into such a vile, acerbic tapestry that to gaze upon it’s final form stings your eyes a little and that final form is SALVATION LAUGHS IN THE FACE OF A GRIEVING MOTHER.
Multiple moments across this record will make you slack jawed and wide eyed. From the opening sonic vortex of ‘BLUEPRINTS FOR IDOL GENOCIDE’ you’re violently introduced to the dual vocal battery of Mike Sugars (Formerly of Vatican) and Colter Adams (Of the aforementioned Killing Of A Sacred Deer) who’s combined vocal range will blow your mind, and that’s before you even begin to comprehend the music. The drums hit like a thousand Bron Breakker spears to the chest and the riffs veer between “I have no disregard for anyone in my vicinity” to “Jesus Christ what’s this fluid coming out of my ears?”. You’ll barely believe how inhumanly fast some parts of this record are, particularly on ‘FILLETED AND FUCKED [S.O.L]’ which will leave you slack jawed and glassy eyed after the first listen. On a lyrical level, it’s acidic, blunt and pointed in it’s delivery, with lines such as “You “where’s my hug?” looking motherfucker, Looks like you’re up shits creek, They should’ve left you in the rubber” from aforementioned lead single ‘BLUEPRINTS FOR AN IDOL GENOCIDE’ a particular highlight.
Staggeringly, despite the rapid twists and turns and an attitude of refusing to stand still for even the slightest second to let the listener catch their breath, it never feels too much. The riffs are addictive and the snare that sounds like a metal bin being whipped with a chain tickles the lizard brain like few other records this decade. The opening of ‘APOCALYPSE THROUGH LYSERGIC POSSESSION’ is heavy enough to shake your fingernails off and somehow gets more deranged throughout, while ‘GOD IS BUSY’ is one of the most aurally unforgiving tracks of the last decade, intent on shearing your skin off with sound alone.
Put simply, this album will divide opinion. It will separate the wheat from the chaff, the ones who can handle unbridled heaviness from the ones who can’t. It will enthrall you like a Jonestown documentary and you’ll feel just as grimy afterwards but you’ll keep going back. This is a new level of extremity and quality for the genre and one that likely won’t be topped for a good while. To call it a modern classic would seem presumptuous but time will tell. The rules have changed, the landscape has been altered and all pretenders now lay spent and rendered obsolete. Standing tall however, are PSYCHO FRAME and long may their reign of terror continue.