Label Number: CR007
© 2012 Defen Society
Review by Ray Van Horn, Jr. for Blabbermouth.net
Often a veteran band comes off as uninspired when they take the easy
way out by self-titling an album well into their careers. Said maneuver
suggests an in-house restructuring or a rebirth, but often self-titling
is trite and it's a cheat.
Montreal death grinders
CRYPTOPSY, however, suffered the tortures of the damned from press and fans alike in 2008 when their experimental
"The Unspoken King" was torched almost universally. As even the colossal
KREATOR writhed through rejection when dwelling too far left-of-center on their industrial-laden
"Renewal" and
"Cause of Conflict" albums,
CRYPTOPSY was just about written off by the metal public. Never mind
"Blasphemy Made Flesh",
"None So Vile",
"And Then You'll Beg" and
"Whisper Supremacy" are considered essentials if you're a fan of this style.
Dig it or not,
"The Unspoken King" had balls, albeit probably not in the band's best interests. Vocalist
Matt McGachy has probably had to weather taunts of
"Lord Worm" in his face like
Robert Lowe stomached jeers of
"Messiah" into his. It didn't help matters for
McGachy that
"The Unspoken King"
had him mixing up elements of high-end metalcore yelping and
unsystematic bits of cleans. All unforgivable from a sect of fans who
would demand the impalement of
MORBID ANGEL for the same offense.
Lessons learned, it appears, since blast beat maniac
Flo Mounier and his retooled
CRYPTOPSY (now including
NEURAXIS bassist
Olivier Pinard) get back to where they once belonged with
"Cryptopsy". For the band's devout, this is the album they've been waiting for. For
CRYPTOPSY
as a collective, this is a confident reclamation that might is right
and there's plenty enough room for innovations and dabbles.
Hit-and-run splashes of fusion jazz and other non-metal variables sneak into the scheme on
"Cryptopsy"
and they're so brilliantly snookered even their fiercest critics will
give them props. The ethereal and concise note sequences haunting the
top layers of
"Red-Skinned Scapegoat" are but one decorative
element of many. The random interplay of jazzy bass and fusion guitar
goofs amidst the banging thrash, grind and black motifs will leave
listeners dizzy and breathless. Forget the metalcore breakdown that
manifests on the same song; this time,
CRYPTOPSY turns it ugly and ugly is the primary palette of this album. The hilarious xylophone rhumba interjection splicing the smarmy
"Damned Draft Dodgers" keeps
CRYPTOPSY's violent overtures from going over the brink, but the brink is where you'll find yourself most of the time.
"Cryptopsy" is focused on brutality, speed and mathematical bedlam. In other words, back to basics with a brainier attack formation.
Matt McGachy
should no longer have to face hecklers, albeit hecklers are bred
perpetually no matter the conditions of their environment. It's who they
are. For the purposes of
CRYPTOPSY's current standing,
McGachy is a brahma bull from start-to-finish. Ralphing, puking, screeching,
McGachy sticks to task and he bleeds his esophagus raw for his manic efforts.
Jon Levasseur and
Chris Donaldson weave complex lines galore (try keeping up with them on the careening
"Amputated Enigma") and their solos cover all ends from punitive to exquisite.
Flo Mounier, as ever, delivers his scattered beat patterns as calculated rivets, while the addition of
Olivier Pinard was a savvy choice.
CRYPTOPSY
opens themselves overtop Pinard while allowing him to harness the group
before they grow reckless. The precision of the entire unit through the
main drives of
"The Golden Square Mile" should be considered homework by those looking to emulate this arduous technique of metal music.
Too much audile chaos to process for many listeners,
CRYPTOPSY
nevertheless comes back to form in 2012 and rewards their fans, proving
that sometimes the self-titled rebooting edict has cred.
tags: cryptopsy, cryptopsy album, 2012, flac,
