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CRYPTOPSY
Cryptopsy

Self-released (2012)
Rating: 5/10

Canadian technical death metal icons Cryptopsy return with their first independent release. Whether you love or hate the band, it’s hard to deny that they that have always done what they want. From sheer brutality to trendy metalcore, they have always seemed to stay (intentionally or not) one step aside from what the diehard metal fans would like them to be.

Cryptopsy’s new self-titled record is no exception to that rule really. Proclaiming itself as a return to the band’s roots, there is no doubt they have abandoned their ill-fated idea of incorporating the anthemic soaring vocals of metalcore, but much of the grind is still present in short bursts. While I wouldn’t call this a return to form at all, it is the first peak at a balanced Cryptopsy sound.

The best evidence of this balanced approach are the back to back ‘Red-Skinned Scapegoat’ and ‘Damned Draft Dodgers’. The first is a near six-minute epic that breaks the mould every 30 seconds to a minute. It starts off heavy as stink but quickly gallops through short outcries of metalcore, traditional metal soloing, bombastic grindcore, and even a jazz laden interlude of sorts. It’s the ultimate metal song for fans with attention deficit disorder. For the rest of us, it’s musically impressive but leaves little to latch onto other than the impressive amount of styles represented. The latter is probably the closest to early Cryptopsy we get, especially once it really gets moving around mid-song. That’s where it explodes and the blast beats and guttural cries take over. You feel like you’ve been beaten within an inch of your life by the end, and that, for me, represents everything Cryptopsy brought to the table in the mid to late 90s.

‘Two-Pound Torch’ is one of the better moments as well, offering a solid mix of the “new sound” the band has explored over the last few years and the “old sound” that the fans clamour for. Vocally, this is a great leap backwards for the band as well, which gives the music a more brutal and ugly edge.

For every solid moment here though, there’s a forgettable one to counteract it. ‘Amputated Enigma’, for example, is a decent enough song but it’s basically the same as ‘Two-Pound Torch’ so it feels redundant at best. ‘Cleansing The House’ is a trainwreck of a song, always trying to catch up with itself but rarely managing to. It sounds like the guitar, rhythm section and vocal tracks all came from different songs save for a mid-song section where the band all comes together for a few moments.

Overall, this is not one of Cryptopsy’s better albums. It’s not particularly bad, it’s just got nothing that sticks with you. Longtime fans will be bothered by the lingering stench of metalcore as well. Personally, I don’t mind it and I think it actually brings something more out of the music than the band had before. The big problem here is that there is so much going on and it has a lot of trouble pulling itself into a united front, making it average at best for fans of extreme metal.

Mark Fisher

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