Description

Black vinyl with lyric insert and 3 bonus live tracks

Finnish death metal act Adramelech with members from Crimson Midwinter, Torture Killer, Demigod and Emissary released a couple of demos and two studio albums during the 90s. ‘Psychostasia’ was the first full length album and it saw the light of day in 1996. This album shows that it seems almost inevitable that the further one delves into the depths of the extreme metal underground, the more one begins to realize that the nation of Finland, in addition to being one of the world’s top producers of suicides and umlauts, is one of the greatest sources of quality cult death metal. Amorphis early work, particularly The Karelian Isthmus, has been a staple in the collections of metal fans for years, while the likes of Demilich, Demigod and Cartilage have gained much notoriety through internet sites. But Adramelech’s 1996 debut full-length Psychostasia may in fact be the pinnacle of achievement for the Finnish death metal scene. Released in a time when death metal as a whole was in the midst of a major artistic drought, with few landmark albums being put out, Psychostasia represents a middle ground between old school and new school death metal, as well as one between the bizarre atonal exploration of Demilich’s Nespithe and the more straightforward death metal of Demigod’s Slumber of Sullen Eyes. In other words, this album strikes a rare balance between technicality and atmosphere; between brutality and hookiness. Adramelech accomplishes this by taking a page from the playbook of more recent Immolation releases [anachronistic, I know, but bear with me here] and establishing grooves with their fret board acrobatics through repetition and using a broad tonal range [often within individual riffs] and a variety of riffing styles to avoid the ham-fisted feel that plagues a lot of technical death metal. In short, there are memorable riffs throughout this record, which are simultaneously catchy and challenging. And while Adramelech does not have the same propensity for layered counter-melodies that is the hallmark of bands like Anata, !T.O.O.H! and the aforementioned Immolation, they do exhibit an acute understanding of what constitutes potent death metal riffing in this day and age. And it’s not just about individual riffs. The songs on Psychostasia are remarkably fluid in their arrangement. At no point does it seem like Adramelech wrote the songs on this album by simply slapping parts together without paying any mind to the fundamentals of good songwriting. These songs are all seamless and never jagged, despite their complexity. The title track is a perfect example, including elements of classic pummeling death metal, Demilich-style atonal melody and more traditional heavy metal melody within the span of a four-minute composition, and at no point does it seem like these various elements have been thrown together haphazardly. Even neophyte death metal listeners will not feel daunted by this band’s use of passages with an odd number of beats in a measure [you’ll frequently hear riffs written in 5/4, 7/8, 15/8] or non-power chord intervals [though those are used sparingly]. Psychostasia is an album that is just as impressive in its catchiness as in its technicality – a rare find.

Track list:
1. Heroes In Godly Blaze
2. Psychostasia
3. Seance Of Shamans
4. The Book Of The Worm
5. Thoth (Lord Of The Holy Words)
6. Mythic Descendant
7. As The Gods Succumbed
8. Across The Gray Waters
9. Intro – Heroes In Godly Blaze-live
10. The Sleep Of Ishtar-live
11. Seven-live