My first experience of the whirlwind wizardry that is Cryptopsy came with their debut album ‘Blasphemy Made Flesh’ but what really blew my head off was the follow up album ‘None So Vile’. I’m pretty sure that any fans of death metal who bought that album back in 1996 would testify that it completely shook the foundations of the genre with its ferocity, technical abilities and utterly bludgeoning assault from which the band was catapulted onto death metal’s worldwide stage. Subsequent releases would further cement their crown as the ultimate dominating force within technical death metal surpassing even the blistering albums that Suffocation had released.

Since 2012’s self-titled album the band has only released a couple of EPs titled ‘The Book Of Suffering – Tome I’ and its follower ‘Tome II’ in 2015 and 2018 respectively. It has therefore taken over decade for them to release a long awaited full length and one I am sure will be greeted with adulation and fervour the world over. Personally I don’t think Cryptopsy has released a poor album in its history though I’m sure many of you would disagree, particularly over 2008’s ‘The Unspoken King’ which divided the fans ranks.

Noticeably the album cover seems to go back in style to their earlier material with a piece done by the exceptionally talented Paolo Girardi whose nightmarish and apocalyptic visualisation is superbly displayed. Also the band has gone back to using their old logo on the front cover instead of using some sort of normalised font which adds to thinking they have returned to their brutalising roots. You could say that is true but in 2023 death metal is different, the market is saturated and bands like Cryptopsy will never just rehash a part two of ‘None So Vile’ or ‘Whisper Supremacy’ just to sate old school diehards, and nor would I, or they, want them to. As the album title and cover art suggests this album sees Cryptopsy develop the work done on the EPs but enhance everything by a factor of ten for a set of songs that listen like sonic Armageddon.

Opening track ‘Lascivious Undivine’ underpins what this album is about, its technical adroitness manifests obliterating drum work and frenzied guitar alongside the insidious vocals that veer from the typical deep growl to banshee like harsh shrieks, though not like the black metal variety I should add. Like any Cryptopsy album it takes a few listens to digest and absorb everything that is thrown at you as the bands penchant for hurling riff after riff, hook after hook is incessant and when you have the inimitable Flo Mounier matching that technical expertise the result is brutalising finesse. ‘In Abeyance’ follows the opener where the track bursts in with their trademark blurring blastfest as the tune seems to have a chain reaction event where each element catalyses the next and so on to reveal a song of devastating impact.

‘Godless Endeavour’ continues the pummelling violence as those vocals swerve from one tone to another allowing the guitar work to adopt a slight progressive styling albeit very briefly. The onslaught shows no abating on ‘Ill Ender’, as the groove infested facets hook into the songs thuggish warp speed annihilation that continues into ‘Flayed The Swine’. With a short guitar flurry the song unleashes its hyper blast assault that possesses a slight machine gun approach similar to Suffocation, as the relentlessness equates to being in a sonic wind tunnel set to hurricane force speed.

I didn’t find any songs to be weaker than the others though some stick in your head more as ‘The Righteous Lost’ offers more Mounier maniacal drumming where the tune seems to fling everything possible at you and contrasts with the slower, initially, ‘Obeisant’ which retains a slight industrial slant that gives the song a sinister aura before the ensuing blast carnage that detonates. As the longest tune here the closer ‘Praise The Filth’ is given nearly six minutes to evolve, develop and subject you to a raining down of riffs. I enjoyed its slower opening sequence, giving the song more atmosphere as the song seems to gradually intensify as each minute passes, that is right until the closing section where it drops again hugely to reveal a dread filled piece that to me sounded very like the post-hardcore scene with its embittered wrathful vocal tone.

An excellent album from Cryptopsy as I hope the band gets back on the road to play some of these songs to crowds as I will certainly be in attendance to witness it.

(9/10 Martin Harris)

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