Hailing from Indiana, Psychomancer are a death metal band who toiled on the scene in from 1997 to 2011, then broke up after two albums in the mid oos. Well they are reformed and have released a new EP on the home state label owned by Yellowtooth’s Peter Clemens.

I wasn’t familiar with the band during their first go around and i’m not sure I really missed any thing based on the new material contained on this 30 minute, 6 track EP (which is pretty good value for an EP). It’s not terrible, it’s just pretty standard, slightly raw US death metal culling from the 90s and early 00s. You can hear bits of Skinless’s early slop, Six Feet Under’s mid paced groove, some Malevolent Creation -ish death/thrash, Cannibal Corpse ish technicality, etc, etc. It’s a veritable Frankenstein of US death metal.

Other than maybe the slower lurches of the title track or “Bastards Burn” there’s not much here that really sticks. Psychomancer try to get a little more experimental for the 6 minute “Abhorrent Wings of Decay” with acoustic intro, choirs and a more melodic approach, but it seems a bit forced and out of place amid the typically more raw and sloppy grooves and blasts of the rest of the tracks, though I can appreciate the try. However, if that’s the full direction they go with in future, I might give them another go. But as it stands, I cant see myself getting to excited about Psychomancer as they are more than likely going to get mired in the tons of other, better death metal acts out there right now.

[Visit the band's website]

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