i wasn't familiar with psycroptic at all before i got this prosthetic records e-mail newsletter with an advertisment for the band's new record "as the kingdom drowns". at first glance i just thought that the cover art was looking pretty sharp. then i read something like technical skilled deathmetal in the description - now i began to consider to get a physical copy. luckily prosthetic presses almost all their vinyl releases to one colour-way for the whole pressing.
so there is usually no problem with getting a coloured copy via a german distro. for this release anyhow there are actually three colour-ways. a clear version, an orange with black splatter version and a white/orange swirl version. maybe this is because prosthetic teamed with evp records from australia and had to change their modus operandi. anyway, i ordered from impericon merchandise and the record arrived in perfect condition.
the album needed a few spins to fully sink in but now i am really in love with psycroptic's approach to technical death metal. they craft a fine balance between easy to grasp riffing and technical virtuosity. and a few of their melody lines are so godamn epic, check the opener "we are the keepers" for proof. the actual colour-way is more of an orange marble but looks lovely nevertheless. awesome artwork by mariusz lewandowsky. 200 copies pressed. prosthetic records. 2018.