Let’s be honest: when you talk about Aussie heavy music, you cannot look past the absolute legends in Psycroptic. For over twenty-five years, these boys from Hobart have been wave-makers. They show the rest of the world that Australia doesn’t just do metal; we master it. Led by the unstoppable Haley brothers – Dave laying down machine-gun drum beats and Joe ripping absolute shred-fests on guitar – Psycroptic have built a reputation on sheer, relentless hard work.
Now, they are gearing up to unleash their ninth studio weapon, The Pulse of Annihilation, landing July 17, 2026. And it gets better. They have officially signed with the absolute giants at Metal Blade Records, proving that true Australian grit always cuts through on the global stage.
The album is heavy, it is experimental, and it is exactly what the scene needs. This isn’t a band resting on its laurels. They are pushing boundaries, raising bars, and fixing to hit the road this August with Rivers of Nihil for what will easily be the tour of the year. Get your pre-orders sorted, lock in your tickets, and support local metal.
HEAVY sat down with drummer Dave Haley to get the lowdown, asking how he is feeling with the album release imminent.
“It’s pretty good,” he smiled. “We’re all very excited in the band. We feel like we’re in a creative hotspot at the moment, and we’re definitely not tired of the band or over it. It feels like… at least over the last couple of years, it’s been a new lease on the band’s life. We’re nervous but happy.”
We ask Dave to dive deeper into the musical side of The Pulse of Annihilation and what Psycroptic were going for this time around.
“We never really know how an album’s going to turn out until it’s finished, to be honest,” he measured. “It sounds pretty cliché, but we just let the songs write themselves. So by the end of the process, when we sat and listened to it, I noticed it was a bit more of a mid-tempo, mid-paced album than previous albums. Maybe a lot more catchy on the first listen as well. With anything Psycroptic, we just try to build on what we’ve done before or try to move into some new territories for us. There are definitely some fun songs to play. It’s hard to appreciate the songs until you’ve had a bit of a minute and sat back from the recording process.”
In the full interview, we explore the musical side of The Pulse of Annihilation in more detail, including the singles released and how they reflect the album overall. We talked about entering a new sonic chapter with the band, highlighting the growing chemistry between the dual vocalists Jason Peppiatt and Jason Keyser, who are on their second album together now.
Dave told us about the album cover art and what it represents, and also spoke about signing with Metal Blade Records and what it means for Psycroptic moving forward. Their upcoming home town shows were discussed, as was the August tour with Rivers Of Nihil, plus more.
