Cryptopsy is the sort of band that comes along once a generation. They are the sort of band that transcends their boundaries, that goes beyond what most would consider 'enough.' With a band like Cryptopsy, you can only expect everything they can do, every time.
Though after the None So Vile album vocalist Lord Worm walked (supposedly to become a teacher, or a sewage worker. I've heard both of those) away from the band, leaving them in a very awkward position. Essentially, Lord Worm was/is (he has since rejoined the band, and they're gearing up for a US tour) one of the top eight vocalists in death metal. His voice was a mix of the vile vomit/whispery style of David Vincent and the high raspy nigh-black-metal voice of later Chuck Schuldiner: essentially he sounds almost entirely inhuman, and that's an excellent thing in a death metal vocalist. His lyrics, too, were statements in irony and nihilistic attitude. The perfect death metal frontman? Almost.
The guy who replaced him... Mike DiSalvo. Okay, first thing: His vocals sound like a hardcore vocalist doing a piss-poor imitation of Lord Worm. This isn't entirely bad, but if you hate hardcore vocals, you'll be hardpressed to look past them on this album. If it's any comfort, the lyrics are loads better then the ones on Whisper Supremacy, ...And Then It Passes being a prime example.
The music? It's a sonic hell, a living roiling nightmare of coils and turns and twists and inhuman harpy shrieks mixed with the constant, droning roar of a million swarming bullet ants and the all-pervasive tiny explosions of thousands of machine gun bullets impacting concrete all at once. Simply enough, this isn't brutal music, this IS brutal. Pure brutal. The only real respite is at the very, very beginning, when a sound sample from The Matrix provides a fitting entryway into this chaos realm. Well, that and the digeridu parts near the end that make no sense.
In terms of riffs, this album is all over the place with what feels like 7000 riffs in all, changing notes and chords at impossible speeds with the bass just keeping pace, throwing in fun jazzy/funkish slaps here and there before immediately jumping back to follow the blazing, screaming guitars that are also playing odd jazzy riffs and slayeresque guitar harmonies that last maybe half a second before they jump back into the brutal death mindset. The drums are mindbendingly fast and accurate: Flo has to be the fastest drummer around. Not the best, but certainly the fastest. Always in perfect control, he's all over the place all the time. Never does he slip up.
The songwriting is subtle and brilliant, requiring listen after listen to really 'sink in.' Eventually, you can wrap your mind around every little crack and nudge of the war machine that is this album and feel it flowing through you like napalm filled with glass shards. Every second of this too-short album is a ride through a tornado, and a brutal death fan will love every minute.
Killing Songs: ...And Then It Passes, We Bleed, Voice of Unreason, My Prodigal Sun, Back to the Worms, Equivalent Equilibrium.
Quote: 94 / 100.
NOTE: This is not overpraised. It kills.
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