In honor of Psycho-Frame’s bold ethos, we should tackle the elephant in the room outright. Deathcore is bloated. While I think it is the dominating subgenre, it’s rife with fluff. It is in vogue. In its defense, I get it. I remember how thoroughly earth-shattering Whitechapel was to me when I first heard “Possession". I didn’t know I was able to emote whatever that was. The optimist in me does like seeing extreme music in the tiniest sliver of limelight. It is probably a net positive. At any rate, for all the regurgitated ideas and recycled breakdowns, this saturated corner of metal is not just a sea of 32nd notes, nor a “heaviest of heavy” competition. There is hope for vigor in deathcore once more!
For all intents and purposes, this is a review of the new Psycho-Frame album Salvation Laughs In The Face Of A Grieving Mother, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t a half-baked dissertation on my cognitive dissonance of why I’m such a Psycho-Frame stan, but can do without Big Deathcore™️. I’m fortunate to have caught the bug early on with their debut EP Remote God Seeker (2023) (I hate to sound so shallow, but damn it, the title alone just whoops ass). Everything on RGS is intense, but not just for the sake of being intense. Despite their penchant for blistering speeds and brutality, they show early finesse on the songwriting front. Most every moment seems to hit the Goldilocks zone. Their follow up Automatic Death Protocol (2023) equally impressed and embellished the production with a beefier guitar tone than its predecessor. Both releases served as a slamming antithesis to the stale state of deathcore (i.e. the band's mantra: NO SYMPHONIES, NO PUSH PITS, NO WHISPER VOX, NO GIMMICKS).
As with their prior work, intensity is the foundation for Salvation Laughs In The Face Of A Grieving Mother. For those fond and familiar with RGS and/or ADP, opening track “Blueprints for Idol Genocide” serves as a reassurance that their hallmarks are well intact: dodgeball snare, pummeling blast beats, dichotic vocals, film/television samples, squealing harmonics, lighting fast licks, and beefy riffs. “Inverted Spear of Heaven” even has the vocals over chugging guitar, followed by drum build up, mono-rhythmic cymbal grab and screams, finally finishing with a grandiose breakdown, much like “24 Hours Left.” Typing that out really took the venom out of the snake. Just go listen to it.
The tried and true Psycho-Frame recipe is found throughout Salvation but they’ve also ventured into new territory. I hate throwing the word progressive on something I don’t immediately grasp, and I but the closing track “Neuro++Terror” breaks any preconceived notion of what rhythmic approach is suited for deathcore. We can chalk any good disjointed polyrhythm comparison up to the greats in The Dillinger Escape Plan, and as nonsensical as that sounds, the disjunctive ride pattern against halftime chugs and fluttering kicks just reads to me as wild as TDEP’s “When I Lost My Bet.” The drum performance yields much of this album’s most memorable moments: odd upbeat emphases, disco beats, tactful and impressive speed, and truly gnarly kick patterns on “Black_Wave II”. There is also clear growth in the riff department. Aside from the grinding riffs that dominate track lists, Salvation incorporates classic death metal solos on “The Portal”, filthy nu-metal riffs on “Inverted Spear of Heaven”, and a true tech death homage in “Apocalypse Through Lysergic Possession”.
Psycho-Frame may utilize a narrow dynamic range, but as clear as ever, their songwriting has grown leaps and bounds beyond their prior works, and not to mention a fair share of their peers, contemporary and otherwise. They’re not just pivoting between blast beats and breakdowns across a 37-minute runtime. There are places where the songs breathe, most notable in “Endless Agonal Devotion”. A bona-fide two step section severs two blast driven motifs, eventually giving way to the album’s most "straightforward" slugging and chugging breakdown. Fret not, though, the tact and intensity return with “I Won’t Be There to Watch You Go”. This track is the best example of their growth. In a matter of 1:49, Psycho-Frame take us through their crash course of nu-metal meets death metal meets cutting-edge deathcore, covering all of their aforementioned strengths.
After stewing on Salvation, I think I’ve finally narrowed in on why Psycho-Frame does “it” for me. They exude what any worthwhile act does, regardless of genre. They’ve retained their sonic ID across their catalog, while utilizing a broader palate of intensity (again, disco beats? hell yes). I regret to mention it, but Psycho-Frame is also just fucking cool. I think “cool” has come and gone over the years, but these deathcore dignitaries have all the visuals, the ethos, and the down-to-earth qualities locked in. We’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t think coolness doesn’t play a factor in our favorite fandoms. All of these may not amount to anything if not placed on the shoulders of their true conviction. Psycho-Frame is a contagious fervor. Excuse me, I’m going to bench press my car now.