Starvation

Fernanda Lira’s lyrics are socially conscious, not to the degree they suggest she lives in a squat and has revolutionary delusions (or worse that she’s desperate for you to believe she does), but it is notable she writes songs about refugee children and the bloody history of colonialism. This is one thing that has not changed since her days in Nervosa. Crypta’s first single, “Starvation”, put a deathly spin on her normal subject matter. The same way Carcass used lyrics about regurgitation and giblets to promote veganism, “Starvation” takes a typical death metal song about the physiological effects of starvation to call out the culprits of “humanity’s worst scourge”.

Just one more in a billion starving like me
Systematically killed by the system's greed

That’s not specific or insightful, really, but I don’t expect citations in my metal. A line that stood out: “I should thrive, not die”. The song “Dark Clouds” from their latest album includes the line, “Will I ever thrive again?” That word, thrive. It’s not obscure or antiquated, but it is uncommon enough to notice her returning to that particular word, and both times in the context of a right denied to the narrator.

Musically the song is a scorcher of buzzing guitars and relentless drumming. No intro building up to the onslaught, no breakdown or bridge to cool down, no outro to fade out. The only hint of lead guitarist Sonia Anubis’ trad metal pedigree is the whirling solo, and it’s barely a hint. “From the Ashes” hurtles at the same energy level, though the playing is more dynamic so it doesn’t have the same straightforward velocity. Tremolo is punctuated by more defined riffing. Matching the lyrics alluding to the mythic phoenix (obviously inspired by Lira and drummer Luana Dametto’s starting anew after leaving Nervosa), the song reaches these triumphant crescendos, but never in a cheesy power metal way. This is Dametto’s most complex performance from any song on their first album. Fast as hell while constantly traveling around the kit. Lira’s vocals are at a new level of ferocious, ending with maybe her most prolonged screech. Death growls don’t offer a lot of room for variation, but she sells it here. You won’t question her conviction.

Now to the difficulty of scoring reviews. The tracks are 10/10, but they’re the same ones that are on Echoes of the Soul, so this is obsolete as a single. The cover photo is cool, but there’s no physical release so you might as well save the jpeg to the right of this review. Napalm Records sold a t-shirt with that photo on it. If you consider a t-shirt an album, change the score to 100%.