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I have some good news and a pinch of bad news about this debut Psycho-Frame record, Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother. And let’s start with the good news, because there’s plenty of good news.

First and foremost, this record is a breath of fresh air in modern deathcore. Yeah, sure, it has the requisite breakdowns and pig squeals and all that stuff, but it also brings something the genre often lacks these days, which is composition and a thoughtfulness to where parts of the song are placed. This isn’t just a pile of riffs strung together with pig squeals and ambience slapped on top and a thousand orchestral VSTs running in the background. It’s refined, it’s purposeful, and maybe most importantly, it’s not overstuffed with layers of unnecessary instrumentation that only add unneeded depth. Psycho-Frame clearly understands both where deathcore has come from and where it is right now in 2025.

There’s a balance here between classic grit and modern punch, and it results in a record that actually feels crafted — it actually feels well thought out. Not just produced or brutal for the sake of brutal, but there is plenty of brutality, so don’t you worry.

And now for the pinch of bad news — Psycho-Frame hasn’t released anything longer than 20 minutes prior to Salvation Laughs, and as the album progresses, that definitely starts to show. It’s not that they run out of ideas so much as it is, it just kind of feels like they’re retreading ground a little bit in the second half, but it’s far from a dealbreaker. It’s still a pretty good record. But you know, Psycho-Frame is still a relatively new band, and some growing pains in tackling their first full length are to be expected. The foundation is still pretty strong here, and Salvation Laughs is absolutely worth your time — it’s definitely worth listening to.

With a little more refinement in how Psycho-Frame structures an album front to back, they’ll easily be at the top of the heap if they can continue their upward ascent that they’re already on.

“Blueprints for Idle Genocide” wastes no time letting you know what you’re in for. It kicks off with this massive breakdown, before careening into the frantic, unrelenting deathcore chaos that Psycho-Frame has gotten a really damn good grip on over the past two years. But here’s the key difference — this isn’t breakdowns as a crutch, this isn’t just throwing breakdowns in to fill space so they can call it a record. Psycho-Frame doesn’t just throw in heavy parts because they’re expected — they use them with intention.

If there’s one section that perfectly captures the band’s intelligent approach to breakdowns, it’s right around the 1 minute and 50 second mark of this song. First they slam into this gnarly slowdown with a crushing bass drop and razor sharp pinch harmonics. Then Psycho-Frame pivots into this super choppy, kinda rhythm-driven segment, before doubling down with a second brutal slowdown, this time featuring slightly higher guttural growls that change the tone just enough to keep you really interested. Then they take all of that and launch into a verse that flips the script with a lot of upbeat accents.

It’s really cool, it’s a really great sequence of events. And more importantly, it’s a moment that proves Psycho-Frame isn’t just tossing around brutality for its own sake. They’re using every tool in the deathcore arsenal — breakdowns, vocal variation, rhythmic chaos — to actually write songs. This isn’t just deathcore built around vocal gymnastics or generic mosh bait. This is sharp, composed, and brimming with intent.

“Inverted Spear of Heaven” takes a slightly more straightforward approach than “Blueprints for Idle Genocide”, but still leans heavily into one of Psycho-Frame‘s most effective tricks — those subtle rhythmic hiccups that bleed naturally into the slowdowns that Psycho-Frame uses quite a bit. It’s a hallmark of the band’s writing throughout the record and a great example of their attention to detail. I mean seriously, pay attention to the shifts in “Inverted Spear of Heaven” — they’re never out of nowhere. Psycho-Frame always precedes it with some kind of little tweak so everything flows in a pretty logical, almost conversational way.

And speaking of attention to detail and creative hooks, we gotta talk about “The Portal” and “Black Wave 2”. Amid the relentless chaos of “The Portal” comes a section around the 1 minute and 30 second mark that really plays hard with hitting on the downbeats. Out of the chaos comes this upward shift in tempo with all the vocals hitting on the downbeats, but the band kinda shifting around what the vocals are doing. And then eventually the band just joins in on what the vocals are doing — and it’s really vicious when they do finally line up.

Then there’s “Black Wave II”, which might contain one of the coolest breakdown ideas on the whole album. In my notes I just called it the Breathing Breakdown. Cause in the first pass, the band cuts off the final note of the phrase, leaving this empty space between the end of the first phrase and the start of the second phrase. But then on the second phrase, on the second pass, they palm mute the same note and let it ring. So it kinda creates this back and forth that literally feels like the breakdown is inhaling and exhaling. It’s a small detail, but it changes the feel.

Even better, they return to that same phrasing at the end of the track and it really gives it a sense of satisfying closure. This is a perfect example of what I’m talking about when I say that Psycho-Frame is really paying attention to the details of their song and really just writing the crap out of their music.

“Endless Agonal Devotion” has some cool moments where Psycho-Frame plays with panning amid more diminished runs originally introduced in “Black Wave II”. There are also flashes of more straightforward death metal here. There’s a lot of uncomplicated double bass patterns and classic riffing that you would probably find in a lot of modern death metal. And it gives the song and the album this brief sense of groundedness. But that directness, that groundedness is pretty short lived.

Because then “Apocalypse Through Lysergic Procession” kicks in and it’s full Beneath the Massacre mode for Psycho-Frame. We’re talking dizzying tapped technical riffs that spiral and repeat with surgical precision. It’s one of the most intense and unrelenting moments on the album and a perfect example of how Psycho-Frame can shift from groove to whiplash inducing complexity without missing a beat and still making you feel like you know exactly where you are on this record and even in the song.

“I Won’t Be There to Watch You Go” is the shortest track on the album by about a minute and it’s clearly the one that’s going to incite every single circle pit at every single Psycho-Frame show. It’s fast, it’s frantic, and it’s absolutely unrelenting from the jump. It just throws punches until a brief rhythmic hiccup around the 45 second mark gives you just enough time to brace for the next onslaught. And that onslaught is full on blasting and d-beat driven punk energy until the bottom drops out into this super spacious crushing breakdown topped with pitch shifted guitars that feel like they’re ripping the floor right out from under you.

If Psycho-Frame decided to drop an entire album or even an EP of short focused bangers like this, they could just have my credit card number right now because I’m buying it.

Then you’ve got “Filleted and Fucked”, which is one of the weaker tracks on the album. Not bad by any means, but it doesn’t quite stack up to the intensity or creativity of what came before it. Aside from a few memorable lyric hooks and a gnarly twitching ending, there’s not a ton to latch onto with this song. And the same goes for “God is Busy” and “Stillwater Salvation”. Though credit where credit is due, “Stillwater Salvation” features some genuinely impressive tempo shifts that keep things really interesting, even if it doesn’t fully hit the highs of the earlier tracks on the album.

But again, these tracks are still good. They still bring the level of violence this record demands. It just feels like this trio of tracks is a little more brutal for the sake of being brutal and not really as innovative as the first half of the record was.

And then there’s the closer “Neuro++Terror”, which plays like a final exam covering everything Psycho-Frame has thrown at you over the course of the entire album. Every idea, every trick, every beatdown is recontextualized one last time. It’s one final exam where all the questions and answers are get your ass severely beaten. This is a pretty solid closer that really ties the record up nice and neat. Or just fully zips the body bag up depending on what your experience was here.

Despite a second half that doesn’t quite match the explosive strength and creativity of the first half of the record, Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother firmly establishes Psycho-Frame as one of the most compelling and forward thinking bands in modern deathcore.

In a genre flooded with bands endlessly trying to out-brutal and out-breakdown each other, and with vocalists pushing to see who can make the most absurd pig noises and vomit sounds during a breakdown or whatever, Psycho-Frame stands apart. Their music is composed, it’s intentional, and it’s genuinely thoughtful about how and where each section lands. And that’s really refreshing to hear.

Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother is an easy 7 out of 10 for me. I like this record a lot. It’s bold, it’s creative, and it’s a standout again in the current deathcore landscape. That being said, I do wish the band had spent a little more time refining the second half of this album, where some of the momentum just starts to slip a little bit. Honestly, if Psycho-Frame would’ve just replaced those three tracks from “Filleted” to “Stillwater” with the two tracks from their Feed EP, this would’ve been an 8 or 9 out of 10 for me.

My other minor complaint is that I do wish the mix was just a little less overwhelming. The sheer volume and aggression of the production makes for a fatiguing listen at times, and it feels like there’s a lot more detail buried beneath the surface that doesn’t quite get to shine. But, I don’t know — again, given the aesthetic and the sonic chaos that Psycho-Frame is clearly leaning into, that might just be intentional, and I guess if that’s part of their sound, then it’s part of their sound.

Regardless, this is a debut full-length that shows a ton of promise and should be taken into consideration by other deathcore bands. Psycho-Frame is carving out their own lane in modern deathcore, and I will absolutely be the first in line to hear whatever they do next, because this record is pretty damn good.