Cryptopsy

For those who are true fans of Cryptopsy, I recommend that they read this review. As my favorite technical death metal band, I have done abnormally extensive research on their new album when I pre-ordered it a few months back. Being very passionate about literature and lyrics, there will be extensive criticism on the lyrics, imagery and aesthetics as well as the songs on the album.

The introduction of polyrhythm, digital tones and more experimentation than Once Was Not are what makes this album different than the others in Cryptopsy’s varied discography. Unfortunately, neither of those are assets that improves this self-titled album. With dissonant chugging and syncopated lines, one can obviously see that Cryptopsy is heading into a new direction, again. A combination of everything from And Then You’ll Beg (the frenzied riffing), to Once Was Not (the transitions and clean guitars), although this was the band’s intention, it does not necessarily perform as well as expected. Many unmemorable breakdowns litter the album, along with fast-tremolo, chromatic riffing that lost almost all of their grindcore influence. This is a much more abstract, free-flowing album, but without the solidity and pleasant structure of ATYB or BMF. The modern influence is too obvious, which leads me to conclude the topic of their new sound with the complaint: “I don’t want another Decapitated!”

The experimentation on this album was not as professionally executed as Once Was Not, notably in cheesy jazz intros and breaks in Red Skinned Scapegoat. While Keeping the Cadaver Dogs Busy was done with an appropriate bounce and musical charm, Red Skinned Scapegoat is a desperate attempt to reintroduce the charm that only comes out as trying too hard to impress us. Shag Harbour’s Visitors’ chorus is boring, utterly unattractive and unusual for Cryptopsy. The silence where a marimba solo takes place in Damned Dodge Drafters could only be described as “weird,” and ironically nothing about the story nor the song is ominous about “Ominous,” etc.

There is also an issue with the transition of the album. I am obviously referring to Microsoft Powerpoint (snark), more specifically the way the riffs change to another and how the tracks proceed to the next song. There a million riffs in one song! Some are very excellent, but the band is trying so hard at machine-gunning thy ears they are exceeding the riffs per second limit. For this reason, only a couple riffs remain in the mind before losing to interference (in the psychological term) of another riff. Also, no matter how many damn times I listen to the album from beginning to end I always find the track number on my cd player miraculously changing from track number 4 to 5 when I finish headbanging. While in Once Was Not, the idea of smoothly rolling from one song to another is intended and equally smoothly executed, this album was never meant to repeat that.

I have read a review that claimed Two Pound Torch was the best song on the album, which I hoped Cryptopsy would prove wrong. Alas, the more I listened to this album, the more the claim ringed true. Crammed with the most memorable riffs and peppered with insane fills, a melodic bridge, and a brutal crunching breakdown with an emotional solo (far from Levasseur's best, but a plus for Donaldson), the only complaint about this song (in fact, EVERY song) is the title and the vocals.

This leads to the complaint: what is it with the song titles?! Someone had once mockingly suggested that Cryptopsy was transcending into the pirate metal bullshit with titles like: "Shag Harbour," (picture Levasseur on the mast as he heartily calls out: “Land!”), "Damned Draft Dodgers" “Amputated Enigma” (Sorry, the imagery of u-boats is inevitable) and "Golden Square Mile" (location of treasure). Damn it, guys, if you want to make a self-titled album, at least have an album with badass song names.

I still remember the day I shut out all household noise playing the cd while reading along the lyrics. The booklet lyrics were given grim, black backgrounds, with practically size 5 font. Despite the ludicrously minuscule letters, it was professionally done, as the way the words were presented succeeded in capturing the "gloom" of the Golden Square Mile and the atmosphere of the historic evils of Canada. But the lyrics themselves were disappointing. By the time I finished Two Pound Torch, I was repeating it more than five times while simultaneously pondering the riffs and wondering what was the connection between the hanging of the whore and the title of the song. What was the "torch," the girl or the thing used to ignite her? Whatever it was, the title would sound twice as lethal if it were entitled "Two TON Torch". Just my opinion.

The problem is that (to be blunt) McGachy simply does not have the charm and prose of Lord Worm. Not only does he possess an amateur stage presence, he was never a master of the fucking pen. I really hate the mantra of comparing poor Matt to the mythical Worm, as I feel sympathetic for the guy who everyone knows will never be able to fill such big shoes, but in this case it is inevitable. In a interview years ago Flo once stated that he wanted “intelligent,” thought-provoking lyrics for The Unspoken King. Matt’s lyrics were actually better on that album than this, and even The Unspoken King was a mediocre story. Perhaps it’s the subject matter (how brutal can you portray Canadian history anyway?), but most likely it is that he lacks the wit that Greening puts in his masterpieces. Matt has no “sense” of good metal lyrics, the alternating between poetic carnage and shocking one-liners, where Worm would put seemingly simple poetry that sound unbelievably evil once read “Colon, cry for me” Matt would howl a pathetic, pseudo-badass “She had to react!” I still cringe every single time Matt screamed that line, as it is neither brutal nor does it make any logical sense in context (React as in plead to the judges? Cry in despair?) Even without blasphemy and sex in lyrics, Once Was Not’s epic apocalyptic theme is still unmatched by this new album.

The structure of all the song lyrics are simple; a narrator who is omnipresent regurgitates reports/interviews/journals from either (newspapers or textbooks), sometimes in the third person. He will occasionally attempt to make the story sound more grisly and rugged with lame attempts almost rivaling Decapitated’s recent release, Carnival is Forever: “As our sweat dried,” (oooh, drying sweat is SO metal) “Forced to procreate” (THIS is when you write “fucking”, Matt. Where Unspoken King contained redundant abuse of swear words, this is the one time you NEED them), “A blank canvas stalked my nightmares” (this is cheesy, fit for a emo band) “Studied mercilessly” (wow, I never knew the act of studying for a doctors degree could be made brutal), “I have never seen the devil put up such a fight” (picture a mother holding down a screaming, kicking Damien/Abigail/any other devil-child/spoiled brat. Would “such a fight” suffice such bold claims?) etc.

You have to give points to them for trying SO hard to appeal and win back their fans. Unfortunately, this principle is exactly what makes Matt McGachy's voice sounding so sterile; as if beaten into submission. The amount of re-indoctrinating Matt’s singing in the band must have been profound, and they may have succeeded. His voice in so longer recognizable, or his “own” compared to the Unspoken King. I even prefer his tortured screams from that album, as the defilement of any artistic originality irks me. His screams are almost mechanical copies of other artists, or "made proper" growls, with exhaled “brees.” Overall the voice just annoys and ruins the songs for me. One can almost picture the band micromanaging the singing every way possible, telling poor Matt sing like this, not like that, we want a grunt, we want a AHH, with a cherry on top.

In obvious emulation of old school ala None so Vile, Cryptopsy was considerate enough to throw in some neo-chromatic scale runs (As in neoclassical and chromatic dissonant harmonies) in the finisher Cleansing the Hosts. While being the only acceptably cool song name, it does not accomplish the task of being a memorable song, much less an album finisher.

I never reviewed albums much, but after reading the most criminally retarded comments on Youtube either ass-kissedly praising the new album or Neanderthal bitching and moaning without any sufficient arguments for months I have decided to finally contribute my part to the metal community. As egotistical this sounds, I did so with the purpose of Mounier’s words in a Chronicles of Chaos interview. The more one contemplates it, the more one realizes Flo was right. Despite the politically-incorrect “Dinner time” controversy, I value his wisdom in which he said:

“The Internet has given everyone a voice, so now everybody thinks it's a level playing field…A decade ago, when an album was coming out, you'd anticipate the release and you'd look forward to it. Then eventually you'd buy it and take it home and really spend a lot of time listening to it, formulating your own opinion on it. Now with the Internet, people are downloading albums before they come out and voicing their opinions prematurely, which can often be really influential. Some people can be very sheep-like in general, and so instead of listening to an album and forming their own ideas, they decide that if their friends don't like it, they won't either. It's like a kind of peer pressure and you can see it everywhere.”

This review was my attempt to inform newcomers and influence those dumbass sheep. I’m tired of reading reviews and claims from people that don’t know anything they’re talking about, especially Cryptopsy. So summarizing, is this the return to form that will give you endless metal joy experienced in glory days from BMF to Once Was Not? Is this the album so brutal that it will toss you off the Tarpian rock? No, no, no. This is their love-letter to standard modern death metal, to many old fans in an attempt to win them back, and a revenge statement to tell the old USK, death-core protesters to go fuck themselves. Nothing speaks redemption like a new, cleaner, faster, modern sound. Despite all the pros, this is not a good introduction into the legendary Canadian band. It may even be Cryptopsy’s biggest and most profound mistake to self-title this revenge album, as it fails to represent the legendary sound that we all associate with the name. This marks the step of a future sound that may no longer have anything to do with the Cryptopsy that we know and love.