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!"

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.