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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:29 am 
 

Canadian technical death metallers Cryptopsy will release their eighth full length (and first in eleven years), As Gomorrah Burns, on September 8 through Nuclear Blast Records. From the press release:

Quote:
Canadian kings of technical death metal CRYPTOPSY have announced their return with, As Gomorrah Burns, their first full-length album in over a decade due out September 8th from Nuclear Blast Records. The groundbreaking, extreme metal foursome emerge renewed and as vital as ever on their massively anticipated album, which continues their trailblazing path of sonic exploration and exceptionally complex songwriting, for one of their most tumultuous albums yet.

Commenting on the impending record, vocalist Matt McGachy says:
“I’m excited to finally unveil ‘As Gomorrah Burns.’ It’s an album that we have been crafting for the past five years. A meticulous endeavor that we are proud of. It’s the perfect medley of oldschool Cryptopsy with a few modern twists. We’ve leaned heavily into the grooves and let some of the riffs breathe just a little more than we have on the past few releases. I’m really stoked about the new era of Cryptopsy”

Today, CRYPTOPSY has unchained the record’s first single, 'In Abeyance,' and accompanying video for which was directed by Chris Kells (THE AGONIST, BENEATH THE MASSACRE).

McGachy adds about the new single:
“‘In Abeyance’ is conceptually about feeling isolated while being emerged in a new environment. The hunt for a sense of belonging while mourning a previous life. Musically, it’s a slap in the face. It’s a banger that appears to be straightforward yet remains ultra complex.”

As Gomorrah Burns" is CRYPTOPSY's first album for Nuclear Blast. On the LP, the Montreal-based quartet — featuring founding member/drummer Flo Mounier, guitarist Christian Donaldson, vocalist Matt McGachy, and bassist Olivier "Oli" Pinard — advances its signature Northern power as they celebrate 30-plus years of extremity. The merciless blasts of "Lascivious Undivine" and "Flayed The Swine" see CRYPTOPSY at their most intense and maniacal, while "In Abeyance" and "The Righteous Lost" groove savagely. "As Gomorrah Burns" underscores the animus of fan-favorite "None So Vile" (1996) and the meticulous technicality of "And Then You'll Beg" (2000) with a strikingly sinister vibe.

"As Gomorrah Burns" isn't merely the follow-up to EPs "The Book of Suffering - Tome I" (2015) and "The Book of Suffering - Tome II" (2018). It's another beast entirely. Crafted over two years during the pandemic, the initial sessions took place in a cabin in the forests of Quebec. McGachy calls the horror-like backdrop "surreal," but, as with everything CRYPTOPSY, the songwriting process was expectedly arduous. Donaldson was the primary motivator behind "As Gomorrah Burns". The guitarist and producer served as taskmaster and advocate, grinding out of his bandmates in McGachy, Mounier and Pinard eight slabs of unadulterated barbarity.

Conceptually, "As Gomorrah Burns" pits the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah against the modern-day Internet. McGachy's idea was to show how it's both the birthplace of invention and a cesspool of exploitation. The stories are based on real-life incidences — online stalkers, cults, misinformation, isolation, and intimidation — but ornamented deviously to enhance their potency. CRYPTOPSY commissioned Italian artist Paolo Girardi (POWER TRIP, TEMPLE OF VOID) to complement the old-world lyrical themes. If Renaissance masters Hieronymus Bosch and El Greco were thrust into McGachy's modern mind, the stunning cover of "As Gomorrah Burns" would be the outcome.

As with "The Unspoken King" (2008) and the self-titled (2012),CRYPTOPSY enlisted their bandmate Donaldson to helm the production, mixing, and mastering of "As Gomorrah Burns". Dom Grimard, of ION DISSONANCE fame, also came into the production fold. McGachy says the time in the studio took much longer than anticipated, but with Donaldson directing and everyone finally in the same room again post-pandemic, CRYPTOPSY were able to capture newfound vigor (and velocity) on "As Gomorrah Burns". Tracks such as "Godless Deceiver", "Ill Ender" and "Praise The Filth" demonstrate Donaldson's death metal mastery.

Aggressive to a fault yet thoughtful in its entirety, "As Gomorrah Burns" — with songs such as "In Abeyance", "Flayed The Swine" and "Lascivious Undivine" — pierces mundanity thoroughly and relentlessly. This is no-quarters death metal, the kind our bellicose world needed and only CRYPTOPSY could deliver.

"We are back," says McGachy. "I want our fans to know we're more than a legacy band. Yes, we have had massive cult favorite albums — like 'None So Vile' — but we are creating modern and relevant extreme music 30 years later. We're so proud of 'As Gomorrah Burns', and we can't wait for you to hear it!"


Image

Tracklisting:
1. Lascivious Undivine (03:50)
2. In Abeyance (02:56)
3. Godless Deceiver (03:40)
4. Ill Ender (04:19)
5. Frayed the Swine (04:25)
6. The Righteous Lost (04:16)
7. Obeisant (03:52)
8. Praise the Filth (05:50)

In Abeyance has been released as the first single:
Spoiler: show


The new single sounds right in line with the self-titled album and The Book of Suffering EPs, which shouldn't be much of a surprise. It looks like they're going for a modern version of the classic Cryptopsy sound as far as the production is concerned.

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Korpgud
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 11:26 am 
 

I haven't really enjoyed Cryptopsy since Once Was Not. Even excluding The Unspoken King, I've found their last few releases kinda generic sounding. This new single is no exception. But I will definitely check out the album when it drops. While I can't get into most of their recent output, there's usually a few good riffs in the mix.
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Razakel
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:11 pm 
 

Despite the press release and what McGarthy says at the end, they’re absolutely a legacy act. I’m sure this new record and their last few releases will find some sort of audience, but this is emphatically not the same band that put out Blasphemy Made Flesh and None So Vile. New single sounds like it could’ve been released by any number of newer tech-death groups.

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Slater922
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 1:00 pm 
 

Single is alright, but far from being at the level the band had during the 90s. The cover is at least nice, though, so I'll still check it out when it comes out in September.
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poormouth100
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 1:03 pm 
 

Their self-titled album is pretty good as far as modern Cryptopsy goes. I thought it was better than Once Was Not, And Then You'll Beg and The Unspoken King (that one goes without saying) although none of those albums are anything special. I'll give this one a listen but people expecting anything on the level as their first two are obviously going to be disappointed.

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nakzox
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 1:55 pm 
 

I liked the single, but as others mentioned, it could have been done really by any modern tech-death band. I love tech-death though so I will definitely listen to this on release day.

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FLIPPITYFLOOP
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 2:19 pm 
 

Not only are they indeed still a legacy act, but the only guy in the band at this point that was part of that legacy is Flo. Great drummer, but not sure how much he can really contribute on the melodic/harmonic side of things (does he even play guitar at all?). Probably why even though this single is good for what it is, the riffing doesn't really have that signature Cryptopsy sound - it's hard to really capture that when none of the guys who made that sound are in the band anymore (at least Eric Langois was still on Once Was Not, and that's still a sick record).

It's not bad at all, but does leave some things to be desired. Still interested in checking out the whole record though, because maybe other songs are better and maybe this one will grow on me.

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linkavitch
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 2:37 pm 
 

It was just OK. Got the urge to grab a snack halfway through and didn't feel the need to pause it. Whole album of this would be decent background music I guess.

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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 3:19 pm 
 

New single is decent enough, and I disagree with the idea that it sounds nothing like pre-TUK era Cryptopsy. There are definitely nods to the music they released on their first 5 releases, but yes, obviously this cannot be compared to None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh, two timeless classics, not only because they are in a category of their own, but obviously also because Jon Levasseur is not in the band anymore.

Still, even with a decent enough single, this is nothing out of the ordinary, and a few little nods to previous releases is not enough for this to be a "perfect medley of oldschool Cryptopsy with a few modern twists" like McGachy said. But then again, you can't really expect these guys to tell you upfront that their newer material pales in comparison to their early stuff. And I mean, obviously McGachy will say that they are not just a legacy act. For starters, because he was not in the band when they released their best material, but also because it would be terrible promotion to flat out say "Yeah, we're still releasing material, but we know that the people turning up to our shows really oly want to hear Crown of Horns, Slit Your Guts and Defenestration, and don't really give much of a fuck about anything we released since I joined the band 15 years ago".

In my humble opinion, Cryptopsy has been trying to reinvent themselves and find a new identity since The Unspoken King. While the previous three records were far from perfect, they were still engaging and adventurous. TUK was not really adventurous. It was Flo trying to jump on a trend because he thought that was where extreme metal was heading. Since that massive flop they have been kind of playing it safe, returning back to modern tech death, while still trying to retain the Cryptopsy vibe. It kind of works, somewhat. The latest two EPs were good enough, and this new single is pretty decent, but nothing stands out much.

Anyway. I still want to hear the whole thing regardless, as I expect it to be at least decent/good, and I still think that the guys involved in the band now are quite talented and able to create something interesting. I'm not holding my breath for None So Vile 2, obviously, but maybe something good but different.

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wEEman33
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 3:51 pm 
 

Whisper Supremacy plus And Then You'll Beg both remain hella' underrated IMO, mostly because Mike DiSalvo's stupid TUFF GUY HARDCORE vocals are so blatantly bad and abrasively in-your-face, but the guitar-playing and song-composing on those CDs rank among the best of Cryptopsy's career. I'd even go so far to say that those two discs are better-written in every way (except for the lyrics) than the caveman-by-comparison Blasphemy Made Flesh, and the hit-heavy, filler-packed None So Vile (which songs besides "Slit Your Guts," "Phobophile," and maybe "Crown of Horns"--if we really stretch the definition of "hit," like it was being grabbed by a pair of gape gloves in a PornHub vid--are still relevant, in 2023?).

I didn't care for Jon Levasseur's 2012 comeback LP (it went about as well as Michael Jordan unretiring just to miss the playoffs with the Washington Wizards), plus all the albums without Jon straightup suck, including the abysmal, largely-Alex Auburn-written, Once Was Not.

Cryptopsy has kinda' become that Sarcofago- / Terrorizer-type of a band, whose influence--and all the superior acts they helped spawn--has massively superseded the scope and quality of their original, genre-formative works.

But their '93 to '03 run is still a better musical legacy than 99% of metal bands, no matter how pointless Cryptopsy's post-Levasseur projects continue to sound.


Last edited by wEEman33 on Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Lane
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:21 pm 
 

I want more Abigor in them again, if you know what I mean!
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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:27 pm 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
Whisper Supremacy plus And Then You'll Beg both remain hella' underrated IMO, mostly because Mike DiSalvo's stupid TUFF GUY HARDCORE vocals are so blatantly bad and abrasively in-your-face, but the guitar-playing and song-composing on those CDs rank among the best of Cryptopsy's career. I'd even go so far to say that those two discs are better-written in every way (except for the lyrics) than the caveman-by-comparison Blasphemy Made Flesh, and the hit-heavy, filler-packed None so Vile (which songs besides "Slit Your Guts," "Phobophile," and maybe "Crown of Horns"--if we really stretch the definition of "hit," like it was being grabbed by a pair of gape gloves in a PornHub vid--are still relevant, in 2023?).

I didn't care for Jon Levasseur's 2012 comeback LP (it went about as well as Michael Jordan unretiring just to miss the playoffs with the Washington Wizards), plus all the albums without Jon straightup suck, including the abysmal, largely-Alex Auburn-written, Once Was Not.

Cryptopsy has kinda become that Sarcofago- / Terrorizer-type of a band, whose influence--and all the superior acts they helped spawn--has massively superseded the scope and quality of their original, genre-formative works.

But their '93 to '03 run is still a better musical legacy than 99% of metal bands, no matter how pointless Cryptopsy's post-Levasseur projects continue to sound.


Damn! This post is all sorts of wrong.

None So Vile is filler packed because there are not "hits"? What the hell is a death metal hit anyway? I don't need my death metal to have pop songs that hit the charts with their catchy choruses. I need my death metal to to flow well from track to track and be enjoyable in an album format. So yeah, maybe some of the tracks stand out more then others, but damn, there is no bad track, no track that doesn't crush most brutal tech death that's been released since. Most modern brutal tech death bands dream that they wrote killer tracks like Graves of the Fathers and Benedictine Convulsions!

And saying Blasphemy Made Flesh is caveman-in-comparison to the extremely uneven, and obviously much more filler-filled Whisper Supremacy and And Then You'll Beg is borderline blasphemous at this point, haha!

Your statement about Sarcofago and Terrorizer confirms that you and I probably can't see eye-to-eye on this. World Downfall is one of the best grindcore releases there is still to this day.

Still, if modern Cryptopsy were playing stuff like their 98-2003 material, it would probably be a bit more interesting then what they are doing right now. So I guess we can at least agree on this.

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Waltz_of_Ghouls
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:38 pm 
 

The cover artwork is amazing. As for the single, as others said, it sounds just like *inserts random tech-death band from the last 20 years*. Oh well...
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299796kms
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:43 pm 
 

I remember there was once a time I had Cryptopsy in my top 2 DM bands of all time.

That was a very long time ago.
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newp
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:12 pm 
 

I imagine it's gotta be a bit weird playing in a band that released undisputed classics before you joined and now doesn't stand out in the crowd. On one hand you'll always be in that shadow, but on the other you get booked for shows and people will listen to a new record... far more than any new band that sounds like this anyway.

That said, I'm looking forward to the new album! New single isn't blowing me away but it's tightly composed and has some good riffs. I'm not looking for anything more than a solid blast of quality tech-death with a bit of classic Cryptopsy feel here and there, which they did deliver on the two EPs.

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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:15 pm 
 

newp wrote:
That said, I'm looking forward to the new album! New single isn't blowing me away but it's tightly composed and has some good riffs. I'm not looking for anything more than a solid blast of quality tech-death with a bit of classic Cryptopsy feel here and there, which they did deliver on the two EPs.


That's also kind of my take on this. But truthfuly, how often do you revisit these EPs? Personnally, I listened to them a few times each, but after having them heard a few times, I tend to just go back to BMF and NSV.

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MikeyC
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:16 pm 
 

I like the new single. Their last album and the 2 EP's since then have all been pretty good. This sounds in line with that and I'm totally cool with it. Looking forward to hearing the new album.
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Spiner202
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:46 pm 
 

New song sounds great and the artwork rules too. Hope the upcoming tour hits here but this is a definite buy for me.

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doomicus
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 7:32 pm 
 

Killer cover art, won't listen to this though. The band is a joke.
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draconiondevil
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 9:57 pm 
 

A lot of negativity here but I can't say I'm surprised. I've never been a huge Cryptopsy fan myself besides the first two records but all things considered the new song is pretty good imo. It still sounds like Cryptopsy to me.
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FLIPPITYFLOOP
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:15 pm 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
plus all the albums without Jon straightup suck, including the abysmal, largely-Alex Auburn-written, Once Was Not.


HeavenDuff wrote:
and obviously much more filler-filled Whisper Supremacy and And Then You'll Beg is borderline blasphemous at this point, haha!


ACKCHYUALLY, everything up to Once Was Not was great. Including Whisper and Beg. Once Was Not might be their best album - or at least, it's my favourite. So you're both right. AND you're both wrong.

Now excuse me while I go DiSalvo flex while slurpin' some worms. OUGH *schlop*

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BleedingMoon
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:38 pm 
 

Genuinely forgot this band even existed to be honest, new single isn't exactly putting them at the front of my mind either.

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Frank Booth
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 11:23 pm 
 

Actually like the new shit, classic band, but good fucking lord they cannot get out of their own way as a business entity. They're a comedy of errors.

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Disembodied
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:27 am 
 

I haven't heard anything they've done since Unspoken King. Not a particularly inspired album title to make me want to.

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kovner1972
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 3:52 am 
 

I am no Cryptopsy expert, and besides owning the debut I hardly know anything about their music, however I can tell you this: That new song is one of the most boring, uninspired, rehashed musical turds I have ever listened to in the realm of metal, inducing zero interest within me to try exploring this band's recent endeavours.

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Firmament1
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 4:54 am 
 

Matt's new vocal style on this track is not bad. If you look up recent performances by them, this is basically what he does when he's doing None So Vile stuff. Production is pretty bad though, the newer Cryptopsy material never had my favourite production, but this just sounds really murky and flat.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 7:12 am 
 

I always liked their old stuff, but man this new song is dull as dishwater. I wish they'd do another deathcore experiment over this, even.

Cover is good enough I guess but I'm tired of that faded, washed out look for art, too, if I'm describing that right.
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Jebator
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 9:03 am 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
Whisper Supremacy plus And Then You'll Beg both remain hella' underrated IMO, mostly because Mike DiSalvo's stupid TUFF GUY HARDCORE vocals are so blatantly bad and abrasively in-your-face, but the guitar-playing and song-composing on those CDs rank among the best of Cryptopsy's career. I'd even go so far to say that those two discs are better-written in every way (except for the lyrics) than the caveman-by-comparison Blasphemy Made Flesh, and the hit-heavy, filler-packed None So Vile (which songs besides "Slit Your Guts," "Phobophile," and maybe "Crown of Horns"--if we really stretch the definition of "hit," like it was being grabbed by a pair of gape gloves in a PornHub vid--are still relevant, in 2023?).


Absolutely agree with all of this.

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Korpgud
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 10:50 am 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
I didn't care for Jon Levasseur's 2012 comeback LP (it went about as well as Michael Jordan unretiring just to miss the playoffs with the Washington Wizards), plus all the albums without Jon straightup suck, including the abysmal, largely-Alex Auburn-written, Once Was Not.


How much did Alex really contribute? I remember hearing OWN was written while Jon was still in the band, so I've always thought he wrote most if not all of it. I can't find any sources to back it up though. It's far from a perfect album, but it's my favorite.

HeavenDuff wrote:
Since that massive flop they have been kind of playing it safe, returning back to modern tech death, while still trying to retain the Cryptopsy vibe. It kind of works, somewhat. The latest two EPs were good enough, and this new single is pretty decent, but nothing stands out much.


I agree. I'd prefer if they continued expanding their sound and taking risks like on OWN and ATYB (TUK doesn't count here), even if the experiments don't always land. It's more interesting than just playing it safe.
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From_Wisdom_To_Mabt
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 10:58 am 
 

I'll definitely be checking it out, but I fucking hate McGachy's vocals. I wish they would move on from him.

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jose_G
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 11:01 am 
 

mmmmmm nop

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wEEman33
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 6:25 pm 
 

Quote:
How much did Alex really contribute? I remember hearing OWN was written while Jon was still in the band, so I've always thought he wrote most if not all of it. I can't find any sources to back it up though. It's far from a perfect album, but it's my favorite.


From what I've pieced together from various interviews:

Jon left the band at some point during Once Was Not's writing process, in the month of August 2004, after a failed weekend recording session--from which no tracks were kept--while the band was trying to make a pre-production demo for the song "Carrionshrine," at a time when Century Media was wanting to get Cryptopsy's name circulating online by e-releasing a standalone single, to help build some hype for their forthcoming 2005 North American tour, which was set to include 2 to 3 songs from OWN, in promotion of that album's planned winter '05 release.

Jon quit because he'd lost most of his interest in extreme metal (which you can kinda' tell by how proggy and jazzy ATYB's guitar-playing was), and wasn't feeling the musical direction that Flo and their label both wanted to go for OWN (simpler songs with more-mainstream appeal and less-offensive lyrics). Plus Levasseur felt like he had already done everything he could possibly do while remaining within Cryptopsy's established musical style, and that him continuing with the band would've just been an inauthentic, only-for-the-money move, that'd likely result in a musical regression from what he believed was his artistic apex on And Then You'll Beg.

Levasseur's name only ended-up being credited for OWN's instrumental intro, "In the Kingdom...," and "Carrionshrine." So I'd assume that most of the stuff Jon was working-out with the band circa 2004--before they embarked on that long stretch of tour dates from February to May of 2005--was either changed or cut.

Lord Worm has publicly stated that he was not present for any of OWN's music-making sessions, and was only brought-in at the tail-end of the project, to create his lyrics/vocals, after all the instrumental parts had already been assembled.

And on all the major online streaming services (Spotify, YouTube, et al.), which are usually pretty reliable sources for who owns a track's songwriting rights, Alex Auburn, Eric Langlois, & Flo Mounier all have composer credits on every single OWN song.

It's also worth nothing that, though Alex Auburn is shown as the second guitarist on And Then You'll Beg's promo photos, his only composer credit on that CD is "Voice of Unreason." The guitarist he replaced, Miguel Roy, shares songwriting credits with Levasseur, Langlois, and Flo, on every other ATYB song.

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FirebathDan
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 7:23 pm 
 

I get what you're saying in terms of the writing credits, but I'd hardly call OWN "simpler with more mainstream appeal"-that album is the epitome of the unstructured riff salad style of writing. My least favorite Cryptopsy albm by a wide margin.

New song is damn solid to my ears.
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ColdBecoming
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 9:46 pm 
 

I'll certainly give it a spin when the whole thing lands. But if the single is anything to go by, it's going to be way too overproduced for my liking. And while I haven't listened to the couple of EPs for ages, I recall that was my first instinct there too.

As others have mentioned, McGachy's seem to be adapting better as time goes on, but still not really doing it for me either
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lennonlikesmetal
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:25 am
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 11:26 pm 
 

Trash single.

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ChildClownOutlet
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:52 pm
Posts: 1582
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 11:40 pm 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
Whisper Supremacy plus And Then You'll Beg both remain hella' underrated IMO, mostly because Mike DiSalvo's stupid TUFF GUY HARDCORE vocals are so blatantly bad and abrasively in-your-face, but the guitar-playing and song-composing on those CDs rank among the best of Cryptopsy's career. I'd even go so far to say that those two discs are better-written in every way (except for the lyrics) than the caveman-by-comparison Blasphemy Made Flesh, and the hit-heavy, filler-packed None So Vile (which songs besides "Slit Your Guts," "Phobophile," and maybe "Crown of Horns"--if we really stretch the definition of "hit," like it was being grabbed by a pair of gape gloves in a PornHub vid--are still relevant, in 2023?).

I didn't care for Jon Levasseur's 2012 comeback LP (it went about as well as Michael Jordan unretiring just to miss the playoffs with the Washington Wizards), plus all the albums without Jon straightup suck, including the abysmal, largely-Alex Auburn-written, Once Was Not.

Cryptopsy has kinda' become that Sarcofago- / Terrorizer-type of a band, whose influence--and all the superior acts they helped spawn--has massively superseded the scope and quality of their original, genre-formative works.

But their '93 to '03 run is still a better musical legacy than 99% of metal bands, no matter how pointless Cryptopsy's post-Levasseur projects continue to sound.



Hey man, I see you added in Crown of Horns instead of Dead and Dripping, it's ok, that's a common mistake!
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77hjrttfred
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 1:35 am 
 

I haven't been a fan of their recent stuff, although the new song sounds pretty solid to me.

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ThePoop
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Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:38 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 8:50 am 
 

I will staunchly defend the first Book of Suffering EP as a fantastic compact modern Cryptopsy release. Easily their best release since Whisper Supremacy and it’s not particularly close for me. The 2nd Book of Suffering was good but much more forgettable, however I think if you arranged a clever track order between the two and called it the Book of Suffering LP it would still be their best album since 1998. This single is fine - I’m not totally hopeless about the album, but it follows similarly from Book of suffering II.
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draconiondevil
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Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:21 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 9:48 am 
 

ThePoop wrote:
I will staunchly defend the first Book of Suffering EP as a fantastic compact modern Cryptopsy release. Easily their best release since Whisper Supremacy and it’s not particularly close for me. The 2nd Book of Suffering was good but much more forgettable, however I think if you arranged a clever track order between the two and called it the Book of Suffering LP it would still be their best album since 1998. This single is fine - I’m not totally hopeless about the album, but it follows similarly from Book of suffering II.


I believe they did release the two together as "The Book of Suffering I & II" at one point but it's just both EPs back to back.
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Korpgud
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 7:09 pm
Posts: 290
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 12:12 pm 
 

wEEman33 wrote:
Quote:
How much did Alex really contribute? I remember hearing OWN was written while Jon was still in the band, so I've always thought he wrote most if not all of it. I can't find any sources to back it up though. It's far from a perfect album, but it's my favorite.


From what I've pieced together from various interviews:

Jon left the band at some point during Once Was Not's writing process, in the month of August 2004, after a failed weekend recording session--from which no tracks were kept--while the band was trying to make a pre-production demo for the song "Carrionshrine," at a time when Century Media was wanting to get Cryptopsy's name circulating online by e-releasing a standalone single, to help build some hype for their forthcoming 2005 North American tour, which was set to include 2 to 3 songs from OWN, in promotion of that album's planned winter '05 release.

Jon quit because he'd lost most of his interest in extreme metal (which you can kinda' tell by how proggy and jazzy ATYB's guitar-playing was), and wasn't feeling the musical direction that Flo and their label both wanted to go for OWN (simpler songs with more-mainstream appeal and less-offensive lyrics). Plus Levasseur felt like he had already done everything he could possibly do while remaining within Cryptopsy's established musical style, and that him continuing with the band would've just been an inauthentic, only-for-the-money move, that'd likely result in a musical regression from what he believed was his artistic apex on And Then You'll Beg.

Levasseur's name only ended-up being credited for OWN's instrumental intro, "In the Kingdom...," and "Carrionshrine." So I'd assume that most of the stuff Jon was working-out with the band circa 2004--before they embarked on that long stretch of tour dates from February to May of 2005--was either changed or cut.

Lord Worm has publicly stated that he was not present for any of OWN's music-making sessions, and was only brought-in at the tail-end of the project, to create his lyrics/vocals, after all the instrumental parts had already been assembled.

And on all the major online streaming services (Spotify, YouTube, et al.), which are usually pretty reliable sources for who owns a track's songwriting rights, Alex Auburn, Eric Langlois, & Flo Mounier all have composer credits on every single OWN song.

It's also worth nothing that, though Alex Auburn is shown as the second guitarist on And Then You'll Beg's promo photos, his only composer credit on that CD is "Voice of Unreason." The guitarist he replaced, Miguel Roy, shares songwriting credits with Levasseur, Langlois, and Flo, on every other ATYB song.



Ah, fair. Damn, sounds like TUK was almost inevitable.
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