Psycroptic - Ob(Servant) Nuclear Blast Released - 10/14/2008 Tracklisting - 1 - Ob(Servant) 2 - A Calculated Effort 3 - Slaves of Nil 4 - The Shifting Equilibrium 5 - Removing the Common Bond 6 - Horde in Devolution 7 - Blood Stained Lineage 8 - Immortal Army of One 9 - Initiate The One Sentence Review: Eunuch Metal.

I'll admit that I've never heard a Psycroptic recording, I've frequently heard them being talked up as being 'top-notch'. So, when the time came around to write up my next crop of reviews, I specifically put 'Ob(Servant)' on first, expecting to be blown away.

Not quite. While being impressive on many fronts, the flaws were displayed immediately upon the first track's play. First off, the vocals are horrible. Perhaps I"m jaded, still hanging on to a time when rotten, uncompressed guttural vocals were the craft which the trade revolved around, but I refuse to accept high-pitched shrieks and angst-ridden shouts as a death metal standard. The production is ultra-polished, crisp and overly-acute and one of the things it waters down is the impressive drum work; in which it certainly wouldn't hurt for a little more low end, a little less limiting and subtle push to guide it just a little closer to the front. Going further with the drums, if there's ever a time when I have to ask myself 'Are these organic, or triggered drums' and have to spend more then a minute thinking about it essentially culminates and equals out to me questioning why is there a necessity and trend of having to smash an entire kit into a razor thin frequency slot. The next victim of the production is unfortunately the best part of this whole deal - the guitar work. I have to ask, where is the body? The power? The presence? The tone is, while truly surgical in delivery, flaccid.

I'm not about to sit here and let the production deter me from the performance. There are some phenomenal riffs here delivered with characteristic liquidity, morphing from meaty chords to somewhat odd, spacial, back and forth, string-jumping attacks that weave together erratic shapes of deformed melody. The drumming is exactly what I would want to hear for this type of music. The deranged assault and progression of the self-titled opener are one of the few things that may have me return to 'Ob(Servant)' for another listen or two. Ultimately, even with the great guitar work and drumming, the majority of the structure is loose and meaningless, leaving nothing truly memorable to hold on to.

There are a few stand-out tracks on the 'Ob(Servant)' such as the opener, 'Horde in Devolution' with it's more composed, groove orientation and 'Blood Stained Lineage's straight-forward presence and attitude, coupled with it's ridiculous drumming and driving riffs, but, with all due respect, this is a wasteland of fillers and heavy eyelids.

If anything, this will encourage me to check out earlier recordings in hope of finding the same music with dirtier production and better vocals.
In summary, I'm not telling people to avoid this release at all. If you're into modernized technical death metal and you can get behind the sounds of Necrophagist's 'Epitaph' or the goodness of Decrepit Birth or Severed Savior and can stomach the 'tough-guy' vocal flirtations, you're in the right aisle.

Final Score: 5/10
Written by Baazgor for Metaltome.com, December 2008

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