Hello, gazers of the void! I hope all is well in your corners of the world. This week, Ryan and I journey into an atmospheric realm of black and death metal epicness conjured by the heavy, intriguing, and downright heroic album that is StarGazer’s latest opus, Psychic Secretions. As per usual, Ryan and I dork the hell out on a variety of the record’s timbres, particularly how the bass fucking decimates throughout its duration (insert bow now-now). The music/track titles inspired the bizarre concept of a goblin cult arriving on the back of a comet, alongside the origin story of a new FCU character, Chadwick the Golden Slump. We also go into ramblings about movie battles and other mystical warfare as we meander through our ramblings on the album. (I was fully addicted to Valheim at the time of recording, so that tracks.)

Psychic Secretions features a solid concept where each track belongs in the same universe, yet this does not prevent StarGazer from crafting tracks that expand into all kinds of sonic territories, featuring moments of frigid and airy northern light-flickering riffs, or galloping, bone-bashing drum marches. You even get moments of progressive sweeps that pair well with the harsher elements. The vocals take on various theatric entities; I pictured an evil necromancer, an ageless toad (as suggested by the album’s lyric), and eventually, my evil cult leader goblin warlord. Once again, some of the grooves and bass lines on this record are pure, undiluted magnificence. Overall, Psychic Secretions is a perfect blend of darkened prowess and stunning enchantments.

StarGazer hails from Adelaide, Australia. Psychic Secretions is their fourth full-length album, which released on February 1st, 2021. This avante-garde extreme metal behemoth has existed since 1995, and throughout the decades, they have conjured handfuls of demos, splits, and EPs. The trio’s lineup consists of The Serpent Inquisitor (Guitars/Vocals), The Great Righteous Destroyer (Bass/Vocals), and Khronomancer (Drums)—stage names that only further the feeling of mysticism while experiencing the music.