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Cryptopsy > Blasphemy Made Flesh > Reviews > TheZombieXecutioner
Cryptopsy - Blasphemy Made Flesh

One of Brutal Death Metal's Best - 95%

TheZombieXecutioner, December 21st, 2012

When it comes to brutal death metal, and Canada only Cryptopsy seems to do it right. Mixing great grooves, Lord Worm's fantastic vocals and lyrics, technical drumming, guitars heavier than troll balls, and some of the floppiest bass ever recorded, These Canadian metallers show it can all work together to make amazing death metal.

This album is home to many fantastic riffs. The riffs here heavy enough for any traditional death metal fan but also groovy enough to keep you interested. Some riffs are speedy and mostly thrash based like the opening track, "Defenestration" and "Gravaged (A Cryptopsy)" Other provide a solid layer of groove for some great bass work and powerful drumming to shine like on "Mutant Christ". The guitar tone on this debut is pretty interesting. It sounds has if the guitar tracks were being switched from mono to stereo back and worth very quickly. This gives the guitars a strange 'left-to-right-left-to-right' feeling. Along with the fuzzy distortion and being low in the mix it can be hard at times to tell what is actually being played other than pure fuzz.This doesn't necessarily take away from the album but can be a turn off to some. Other than the great riffs and fuzz, there are some very tasty solos to be heard on this record. "Mutant Christ", "Serial Messiah" and "Abigor" have really great melodic solos, which are very memorable and have some great structures and display the great talents of Jon Levasseur.

The vocals presented here are fucking amazing to say the least. Very sloppy, very raw, very rough. Just the way it should be. Lord Worm is truly a master of his craft and displays it well along with Steve Thibault and Flo Mounier backing in "Memories of Blood" and the end of "Pathological Frolic". Worm's voice is one of the most hard to understand in death metal. I've listened to this album a few dozen times and i can still only make out a few words here and there. This isn't a bad thing at all, the vocals work more like another instrument constantly growling and screaming and works well with the music. Within this album might be the greatest scream in death metal, in the track, "Open Face Surgery" Worm gives us a powerful, yet terrifying, full minute and a half scream that still gives me chills. These Lyrics are also great. Mostly consisting of morbid, gore stories about throwing people through windows, auto-erotic asphyxiation, sinning, you know usual stuff. The lyrics are written in pretty strange ways. Having tons of weird wordings and medical textbook style gore inspirations.

Flo Mounier provides some complex, and even jazzy at times, drumming. His kit has a tremendous sound that really makes it stand out. The drums are very high in the mix and are louder than Worm's vocals at times. The snare itself is super tight, has a great snap and is super loud. I personally love this snare tone, one of my favorites in extreme metal. "Gravaged (A Cryptopsy)" shows the great snare tones perfectly with some quick rolls of the snare. One of Mounier's specialties is his blasting on the china cymbal. Displayed perfectly on the closing track "Pathological Frolic" and "Memories of Blood". This is what really makes Mounier stand out, his ability to provide tight grooves like on "Born Headless" and yet blast like its nobody's fucking business. Though his blasts on the china nearly dominate the whole mix when presented they don't ruin much, but really drive up the intensity.

Along with the drums Martin Fergusson's bass work is very prominent on clear. Much like the drums, the bass is often jazzy and plays some great independent rhymes as on the opening track, "Mutant Christ" and "Swine of the Cross". Surprisingly the bass is louder then the guitars for the most part, which i personally don't mind at all. The bass really makes this album stand out in originality. Gives great support to the tight pocket of Mounier's drumming while keeping up with Levasseur's playing and isn;t scared to go out on its own.

Overall this album is phenomenal and is a must for any fan of great riffs, raw vocals, and a great rhymes section. Together they makes one of the best albums in the brutal death metal scene along with the follow-up None So Vile.

Favorite Tracks: Defenestration, Open Face Surgery, Mutant Christ, Pathological Frolic

Least Favorite Tracks: None