Album/EP

Outer Heaven - Infinite Psychic Depths (Album Review)

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Jul 18, 2023

7 min read

Outer Heaven - Infinite Psychic DepthsReleased: July 21st, 2023

Line Up:

Austin Haines // VocalsJon Kunz // GuitarsZak Carter // GuitarsDerrick Vela // BassPaul Chrismer // Drums

Outer Heaven online:

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One of the brightest talents on the current Relapse Records roster; twisted, mind-expanded, death metal troupe Outer Heaven have returned with their second record Infinite Psychic Depths. The spiritual and musical sibling to their excellent debut Realms of Eternal Decay, this new full length promises to be another collection of unpolished, bong-water-soaked, swirling extreme metal.

Housed in it’s awesome artwork - again tying it to their debut effort - Infinite Psychic Depths wastes no time with the direct opener ‘Soul Remnants’, while the following claustrophobic ‘Pillars of Dust’ keeps things lively by moving into two seperate pit-destroying passages. Outer Heaven clearly wear their love of late 80s, early 90s extreme metal - Florida death metal, classic thrash, frost-bitten black metal - on their sleeves, but meld those influences into their own festering style. First single ‘Rotting Stone/D.M.T.’ is amongst the best material Outer Heaven have composed to date - covered in ear-grabbing moments, from it’s trade-off solo section, to the experimental outro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOfJSttonI&pp=ygUMb3V0ZXIgaGVhdmVu

Infinite Psychic Depths certainly has a powerful old school feel, especially in the production department. The drums are coated in reverb, while the buzzing guitars cut through the raw mix. Austin Haines' often-double tracked roars sit in the middle of the soundscape, content to deliver his tales - ranging from the end of the world to hallucinogenic freak-outs - deep in the cavern of ‘verb with the instrumentalists. Simply put, Outer Heaven’s take on death metal would not work in a sterile environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZLEAz7aLw8&pp=ygUMb3V0ZXIgaGVhdmVu

A criticism of Infinite Psychic Depths is that it’s a bit of a riff-salad at times - this genre doesn’t really do a lot of ‘choruses’, per se. Outer Heaven are smart enough composers to know when to throw in an attesting time change or musical shift, but there are more than a couple of instances that fly by without much to hold onto. On the positive, guitarists Jon Kunz and Zak Carter are absolute riff merchants, delivering countless wrist-shattering passages. There’s loads of knotty, complex guitar and drum work across this album; the furious ‘Unspeakable Aura’ balances these elements in it’s seriously apocalyptic-sounding second half. The galloping ‘Starcrusher’ and trem-picked focused ‘Warped Transcendence’ pack some of the LP’s most relentless moments, while ‘Liquified Mind’s riff-fest of an ending will certainly make it a future live favourite. Closer ‘From Nothingness To Eternity’ is a real kitchen sink of a finale, with countless six-string parts colliding with one another - it’s grinding ending is a titanic way to draw close the curtains.

Outer Heaven’s Infinite Psychic Depths is certainly an acquired taste - but those who enjoy old-school worshipping, unpolished death/extreme metal will be highly advised to check out this newest effort. Like a lot of this music in this style, the LP will definitely require a bit of work to fully digest it - even then some of the songs just don’t have enough going for them. A few more dynamic breaks, like in the aforementioned ‘Rotting Stone/D.M.T.’, might have breathed a little life into Infinite Psychic Depths' more impenetrable sections. That aside, if you enjoyed Outer Heaven’s debut, and modern extreme metal at it’s most mind-melting, then you cannot go astray with Infinite Psychic Depths.