UMUR "The Scepter of the Ancients" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Australian, Tasmania based death metal act Psycroptic. The album was independently released in May 2003. Psycroptic formed in 1999 and released their debut full-length studio album "The Isle Of Disenchantment" in 2001. Apparently the independently released and otherwise intriguing debut album didn´t stir the waters enough for a label to take notice as the band once again had to finance the recording of an album and release it independently.

...and that´s a bit of a shame, as there is definitely enough quality here (and on the debut) to warrant interest from labels. Stylistically the material on "The Scepter of the Ancients" continue the brutal technical death metal style of "The Isle Of Disenchantment (2001)", but it´s audible Psycroptic have grown as songwriters and that they have honed their playing skills too, because "The Scepter of the Ancients" is a step up in quality in all departments compared to the debut album. Multiple tempo changes on all tracks, ultra fast riffing/drumming, and various forms of extreme vocals, ranging from deep growling, to high pitched screaming, to low end piggy grunting. Lead vocalist Matthew Chalk sounds positively deranged/schizophrenic here. It´s a great extreme metal vocal performance and a lot of praise goes out to Chalk for delivering something a bit different from the norm.

The quality is high throughout and all tracks are brutal and highly energetic pieces of technical death metal. While the material aren´t the most varied in terms of telling the tracks apart (which isn´t unusual for the genre), it´s one of the more diverse releases on the scene and there is a touch of originality here that you don´t hear everyday either. The raw and primal sounding production job lends the material a great organic quality, but it´s still a detailed sound where all instruments and vocals are clearly audible in the mix. Upon conclusion "The Scepter of the Ancients" is through and through a high quality release and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.