Who was there when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were set on fire? Apparently the gentlemen of Cryptopsy, or so the title and lyrics of the new album suggest. The foursome link textually and conceptually to the current social media era and the thin dividing line between good and evil, as Sodom and Gomorrah were. Hearsay then. The previous, self-titled album dates back to 2012 and after that the Canadians released two more EPs entitled The Book Of Suffering – Tome I and II. Gomorrah was not built in one day, of course, so in 2023 the band will release the album As Gomorrah Burns at its own pace through its new home Nuclear Blast Records, as if there is no problem. Compliments for the beautiful artwork. Traditionally, expect a musical hurricane with destructive power.
At the forefront of the battle we of course find drumming beast Flo Mounier. The torture machine of drumheads pumps out one blastbeat after another as if there is no other form of self-aggrandizement. Of course we are anything but adamantly against this! The ferocious drum and guitar parts during In Abeyance, Ill Ender and Obeisant work like a firecracker in a powder keg and McGachy’s growling vocals increase the intensity to a peak. You can call it a well-oiled machine, but one that is challenging and technical and is packed with interesting things through many tempo changes and shifts in emphasis. Take the playful but oh-so-cool way in which the technical, Cattle Decapitation-like Flayed The Swine opens. Speaking of that band: the clattering bass strings of Olivier Pinard (Cattle Decapitation) during the furious Godless Deceiver and the versatile The Righteous Lost can also be clearly heard in the sound mix – or even put in the spotlight – with which he can once again show his class to belong. And Flo? He is still plowing some meadows in the background, completely in its natural habitat. Cryptopsy is a band with only top musicians, but at the same time the band also has the class to successfully use every instrument and make it shine.
How does this record compares in Cryptopsy‘s discography? With just over thirty minutes of spastic convulsions, it’s time to do business again. We love it! After such a long time of ‘absence’, As Gomorrah Burns feels like a warm shower, which we don’t need given the tropical temperatures of the past week and a half, but even more so in the proverbial sense. The balance between technical, brutal and manageable has again been flawlessly executed and there is no way to get in between it. The album contains enough variety to remain interesting in the longer term. The Canadians are stoking the fire again and releasing one of their best albums to date. Lovers of (brutal) death metal – and in this case grindcore – have little to complain about this year, with new work from Dying Fetus, Vomitory en Kataklysm, among others, but this one from Cryptopsy fits perfectly into that list of recent great albums!
Score:
84/100
Label:
Nuclear Blast Records, 2023
Tracklisting:
- Lascivious Undivine
- In Abeyance
- Godless Deceiver
- Ill Ender
- Flayed The Swine
- The Righteous Lost
- Obeisant
- Praise The Filth
Line-up:
- Matt McGachy – Vocals
- Christian Donaldson – Guitar
- Olivier Pinard – Basguitar
- Flo Mounier – Drums
Links: