Review by Nathan on March 19, 2020.

This cute little full-length generally gets overlooked in favor of the next album, which was unquestionably their breakout point. Being one of the first (if not the first, I did some digging but couldn't find another decidedly techy Aussie band that had a full-length out around this time) Aussies to the tech-death game is a worthy enough accomplishment, but it does seem strange that The Isle of Disenchantment receives very little attention, especially because it's the most similar album to Scepter of the Ancients in Psycroptic's discography. Not only is this the only other album with Matt Chalk, subsequent albums saw them continue down a much more melodic and wanky path that was starting to poke its tendrils in by Symbols of Failure.

I wish I had a "hot take" or a somewhat unique insight on this album, but I figure my feelings towards The Isle of Disenchantment are probably the same as everyone else's: it's competent, but ultimately an under-developed and unmemorable album in comparison to The Scepter of the Ancients. In hindsight, this really feels like a debut, professional and well-executed as it is. There's many ideas present that don't totally fit the "Psycroptic mold" that the band gives the spotlight to on this album, giving clear hints that they were still working out what fit and what didn't. The subtle grooving and clean singing in 'Psycroptipath' is the easiest example, but with more of a reliance on thick tremolo riffs and less on the extra flourishes throughout the album, there's a curious sonic similarity to early Quebecois melodeath (think Day Into Night era Quo Vadis) that doesn't take root in later albums. The songs are denser with ideas, but Psycroptic's haste to cram all the riffs they can into a song comes at the expense of memorability and dynamics. Many of the songs just hop from one section to the next after repeating it maybe 2-4 times and never returns to the song after that, creating this linear stream of riffs that are interesting and even have a nice little swing to them every now and then, but never full take root in your brain. I hear the main riff from 'Skin Coffin' playing in my head even if I haven't thought about the song in months. If such riffs do exist in this album, Psycroptic doesn't give them enough time to do their thing. None of the riffs are bad, I can listen to this all the way through and not feel disengaged, and I'm not compelled a strong desire to listen to something else...except for maybe The Scepter of the Ancients (and some choice cuts off Ob(servant)), but that being said, nothing on this sticks.

That may be partially due to the non-repeating song structures, but it also has to do with the generally embryonic nature of The Isle of Disenchantment. It's hard to structure songs around monster hooks if you haven't written hooks at that level yet. The Haley brothers have some of the best guitar-drummer chemistry out there and it generally results in some stupidly catchy songs, but The Isle of Disenchantment was the phase where they were still working it all out - the ebb and flow of both instruments has a narrower range of motion, and the drums sound like they have less...personality? On later albums, good or bad, I can hear a song and be able to tell it's a Psycroptic song in less than ten seconds, but Isle of Disenchantment is the only one I might be stumped by for at least a couple minutes. To put it one way, it's more conventional death metal, even though it's way less refined.

The Haley brothers aren't the only culprit, though. Matt Chalk isn't what he's been made out to be. Like everything else, the foundation is there, but it's lacking the extra special something that made Chalky magical. The Scepter of the Ancients features a top 10 all-time harsh vocal performance, and what vaults Chalk into that category is his versatility. He sounded like he had forty-seven different voices on Scepter, but on Isle he has three, maybe four, and mostly sticks to his low growl and high prickle-rasp. While still retaining a degree of distinctiveness, he doesn't have that touch of alien weirdness that quickly ensnares your ears. It's not bad, but it's not there yet. When he occasionally dips into some rapid-fire delivery, it whizzes past and feels more like a tertiary add-on. The biggest all-around hindrance of this album is that Psycroptic doesn't utilize their more technical abilities in a way that stands out, and I think that could be said for each musician. I guess that's the thing, though, they were young at this point and relatively early to the tech game. We have the benefit of time and know what they became at this point, so it's easy to handwave The Isle of Disenchantment aside, as it's the band's most ordinary death metal album. Bands will often get stuck trying to recreate the success and imitate the personality from their debut, but Psycroptic benefitted from refining and adding to their foundational sound, and as a result, every single Psycroptic album after this sounds a lot more like Psycroptic.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10

Review by chrisc7249 on June 4, 2022.

So, I sat on this for a few days and decided that I have no idea how else to start this review other than this; Psycroptic's second full length album The Scepter Of The Ancients is one of the best technical death metal records ever. Why? Just listen to it.

Okay, review over.

Ugh, fine. I guess I need to describe this album in all its glory to get my opinion out there. If you haven't heard of Psycroptic - partially good, partially not. Let's get the negative out of the way with this band; everything after this album sucks. I haven't listened to all of it, but I've listened to the first three that come after this and they were all really bad. Harsh, but don't feel bad, I'm just a feeble human being like the rest of you and my words should bear no power over your emotions. I write these merely to entertain myself rather than for other people's reading pleasure.

Psycroptic, for those who haven't heard of, play some of the nastiest, most technical and in your face riffs you'll ever hear. Their sound is not too far off from Spawn Of Possession, who (whom?) put out their debut this same year. Psycroptic features a little less flair and dissonance but is just as epic and perhaps heavier. Yes, yes, these RIFFS. Oh my God. These are some of the fuckin tightest and gnarliest riffs I've ever heard. They're fast, catchy as fuck, and they'll leave your neck sore after just one song. Psycroptic found a perfect balance between speed, precision and groove with these fuckers. Every song is jam packed with them, and they just keep hitting you with them over and over, changing minute details occasionally and using them to build into other riffs to create songs with a lot of emotion and raw energy. If you've heard newer tech death before this, chances are you'll be like "oh, so that's where 'x' band got their riff style from." The influence of this album leaks into countless tech death bands, regardless of style.

However, no solos - there's one solo on the album. At first, I was a bit confused. All this great playing and only one solo? Then I decided, eh. I don't really care that much. I love solos, but when everything else is this good, it is something I can look past, and with this album, I do. Another thing I have to look past is, wow, the bass player does nothing interesting all album long! Follow the guitars 99% of the time. That's the name of the game, and again, I don't care because of how good the riffs are.

The drumming? Catchy as fuck. Perhaps not as talked about as the guitar work, but the guitar player's brother behind the kit lays down some serious percussion skills. It's not the most jazzy or spastic but the dude sure knows how to add that extra punch into the riffs with some tight drumming.

So, that's it? Just some riffs? No solos or notable basswork and some pretty good drumming? Cool, but what makes this album so great? Well, this is where things get controversial. You see, there's one thing I just brush over in technical death metal a lot. Something this band, or this guy, rather, does very well that no band could ever dream of replicating…

Chalky's. Fucking. Vocals.

When I first listened to this album, I was fairly new to death metal. Some may argue I still am, at only 3 years in the game, but that's besides the point. Upon this album first entering my ears, I could only think of one thing "Jesus Christ this guy sounds insane." Chalky has always been somewhat controversial for his vocals. Some people praise him for being one of, if not, the best death metal vocalist of all time, while some think he sounds horrible and ruins the album. If you couldn't tell, I fucking love his vocals. So much so, that I have the audacity to type out that this is the best vocal performance on a metal album, ever. Yes, even my favorites like Layne Staley and Chris Cornell couldn't hold a candle to this at the end of the day. He has amazing range, fantastic control, brilliant use of different vocal styles, and he's revolutionary in death metal. I know Lord Worm gets a lot of credit for changing death metal vocals, and he certainly is one of the best, but even he could only dream of sounding as fucking terrifying and manic as Chalky sounds on this album. How this guy was able to record this entire album without blowing his voice out is beyond me. He goes off in every single song. His vocals are all over the place, rarely taking a rest and he spits out so many words in one song. He constantly changes up the vocal style he's doing, whether it's a low, brutal death metal gurgle, a high-pitched black metal scream, or just straight up regurgitating noises like a person in the middle of being decapitated. He's every vocalist in the extreme metal world put into one. Dude even shrieks like a banshee in some songs and it honestly sends chills down my spine.

Even if you end up not being a fan of the vocals, it's hard to find albums quite as influential in technical death metal as The Scepter Of The Ancients. It was revolutionary at the time of it coming out and continues to be one of the genre's finest achievements, nearly 20(!) tears later. Unfortunately, Chalky either quit or was fired from the band after this release, and the music quickly nosedived. They somehow managed to go from the best death metal vocalist to someone who's not even a death metal vocalist and the riffs became boring and repetitive. Shame. At least, in their prime, they were able to give us one of my favorite albums ever. I could forgive all else because of this record. Must listen.

FFO: Spawn Of Possession, Necrophagist, Anata

Favorite song: 'The Valley Of Winds Breath And Dragons Fire'

Rating: 10 out of 10