As Gomorrah Burns

It was hard to suspect the Canadians from Cryptopsy of such a strong releasing break after their - in their own way - very satisfying self-titled album, until suddenly 11 years passed before his successor appeared. During this time, of course, the band didn't stop doing anything, because the group was touring like crazy, although when they wanted to recording new music, the whole initiative ended with smaller, short eps (in the form of "The Book Of Suffering I & II"). It would seem that in their older years, Flo Mounier's band has become extremely frugal in creating more abundant materials and there is no sign that this situation will change. Well, for a while. Or more precisely, until 2023, when their eighth full-length album - "As Gomorrah Burns" - was finally released.

However, there is no reason to be delighted. "As Gomorrah Burns" is not one of the most abundant (as it contains just over half an hour of music), and secondly, it does not stand out in any way, even taking into account that in the current version, stylistic innovations are not needed to the Flo Mounier's band. So what is the main problem of this album? First of all, compositions and sound. Cryptopsy's eighth album gives the impression that it was composed and produced using artificial intelligence, and in a rather unsophisticated way. Therefore, "As Gomorrah Burns" contains a very typical combination of all the most famous patterns from their first albums, but in a clearly less crazy and with exaggeratedly sterile production. Yes, all of their later releases have suffered from the latter production defect since their return to normality, but there, i.e. mainly on self-titled album, the band knew how to sound fresh, characteristically intense and twisted, and at the same time, with memorable motifs in songs.

Meanwhile, on "As Gomorrah Burns" a large part of these components simply disappeared. The songs are supposedly full of brutality and a large variety of motifs, although they lack a clearly outlined character and too often they are mixed with arduous riffs, blindly imitating Jon Levasseur's style, or pretty (?) sounding melodies. I have already complained about the plastic production and it's obvious that it needs to be corrected (not to be confused with the way of technique itself - it's, as usual, of a high standard), but surprisingly I am not impressed by Matt McGachy's vocals either. Because while the low growls are decent, the considerable amount of deathcore screams per track can really distract from the entire material. Besides, among this mediocrity only "In Abeyance", "Flayed The Swine", "Lascivious Undivine" and "The Righteous Lost" stand out, and only for the simple reason that they quite coherently combine the old Cryptopsy style with the less popular, modern - which is much more difficult to say about the rest of the album.

Considering such a long break in releasing new albums, one could expect much more from the content of "As Gomorrah Burns", especially when, in 2012, Cryptopsy brought an improvement in the music. Although "As Gomorrah Burns" album is not a tragedy or anything to be ashamed of, the whole album presents the band much more as a product straight from the generator, but not as true-born Cryptopsy.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal