Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy ()
Wydane przez Self-financedRok wydania Kraj CanadaNapisał Wouter6
If there’s any virtue more appaling in a band than trendhopping, it is insincerity. With their new self-titled record Canadian metal act Cryptopsy are now guilty on both counts. Their preceding and critically panned “The Unspoken King” record saw them jumping on the death/mallcore bandwagon with the expected result. Frontman Matt McGachy was widely scorned and rightly so. Since then Century Media was wise enough to not extend the band’s recording contract. In the interim (in 2011) original guitarist Jon Levasseur rejoined and the band has now returned to its death metal sound. This marks Cryptopsy’s first independent release since their 1993 “Ungentle Exhumation” demo tape. You’d imagine that after the last record’s negative fallout they’d fire McGachy and hire an actual death metal vocalist. Say, Sylvain Houde (ex-Kataklysm), Steve Tucker (ex-Morbid Angel), Rich Lipscomb (Fleshgrind) or somebody of similar repute and caliber. No, instead they persevered with the trendy looking McGachy. If there’s any solace it is that this new album sounds as close to “…And Then You’ll Beg” and “Whisper Supremacy” as you’d imagine. Here McGachy sounds a bit like former Decapitated frontman Sauron, but not nearly as deep. Apparently, Levasseur was instrumental in the creation of the classics, as both “Once Was Not” and “The Unspoken King” were sorely anemic in the riff department. Olivier Pinard is a worthy successor to bassist extraordinaire Eric Langlois. McGachy is still the weak spot in this band, although his vocals here are much more tolerable than the whiny emo squeels and horrendous clean singing of “The Unspoken King”. The jazz break in ‘Red-Skinned Scapegoat’ is a definite highlight. The artwork isn’t much to get excited about. The demon sigil and the classic band logo are reinstated, but the remains of the tattoo-like composition don’t speak of much inspiration. If this album had followed “…And Then You’ll Beg” people probably wouldn’t have ever questioned Cryptopsy’s sincerity and musical integrity. As things are now, this is a band that needs to take a long, cold hard look at itself and why it is in this line of business. They already betrayed their own fanbase once. What guarantee is there that they won’t pull another “The Unspoken King” on us, once the dust of rabid excitement has settled and we can see the record in a proper perspective, in a few years time from now? This self-titled record is a commendable return-to-form for a band many had rightly written off, but nothing more than that. Don’t get your collective panties in a twist just yet - this is certainly a good record, but not a fantastic or genre-defining one.
cryptopsy.ca
