Back in freshman year of high school, when jumping headfirst down the death metal rabbit hole, Cryptopsy immediately caught my attention. Here I was thinking there was nothing more brutal than the textbook death of Cannibal Corpse or gore obsessed hymns of early Carcass. Boy, was I wrong. Upon first hearing their seminal sophomore album, None So Vile (1996), I was floored. This album had it all: ornate musicianship, bludgeoning guitar riffs, the unholiest gutturals ever laid on tape (a hill I’ll die upon), and perhaps most shocking of all, unique character. Every song stood singularly, proudly displaying its own individual tropes, which in brutal death metal is rarer than Yngwie Malmsteen keeping a singer for more than one album.
I’d eventually go backwards and discover the equally twisted brilliance that is their debut, Blasphemy Made Flesh (1994), as well as NSV‘s successor, Whisper Supremacy (1998). I remember not immediately digging that album as much as their first two, but in hindsight, it has its moments. Eventually, my support for this band became unwavering. Even upon the discovery of personnel changes (Lord Worm left?!) and recent output that sounded more in line with the Mayhem Fest parking lot stage lineup than their mid ’90s glory days, I went to catch Cryptopsy live; first as an opener for Cannibal Corpse and Obituary, and then headlining some chug-fest package tour (Was it Summer Slaughter?) during which they played None So Vile in full. I’m surprised there wasn’t a contest in between bands for the largest ear gauges.
Anyways, fast forward to 2023 and Cryptopsy are back with their first full length album in over a decade, As Gomorrah Burns. Considering my overall disappointment with their 21st century output, I went into this latest outing with zero expectations. Lord (Worm) knows I’d be a sucker to believe this might just be the second coming of Vile or Blasphemy. Nevertheless, I listened with open ears and have come to the conclusion that, despite its best efforts otherwise, Gomorrah is a painfully pedestrian brutal death metal album: A step up from their deathcore abomination, The Unspoken King (2008), but not by much.
The one aspect of Cryptopsy that remains impressive as ever is their musicianship. Founding drummer Flo Mounier remains the second greatest Canadian drummer of all time, behind only Neil Peart, and his performance on this album is utterly mind mangling. The rest of the band holds their own as well, blurring the lines between technicality and brutality. Unfortunately, my praise ends there. Aside from the production being far too sanitary for what I prefer in a death metal release, the songs on Gomorrah come off as largely predictable and one-dimensional. There are occasional moments of the brutal death/thrash on steroids formula of Blasphemy, heard prominently on cuts like “Godless Deceiver” and “Ender”.
These brief glimpses of greatness are then subsequently weighed down by Meshuggah tinged outbursts (“Flayed the Swine”), deathcore flirtations (“Obeisant”), and generic modern brutal death (damn near every other song). In many ways, Gomorrah feels less like a Cryptopsy album and more like an album from any of the two zillion Summer Slaughter ready clones they’ve inspired in their wake, which is where the fault lies. It isn’t a bad listen, but rather an unfulfilling listen, which from a band of this caliber is almost more disappointing. I’d advise all true death metallists to at least give Gomorrah a shot. Just be aware that there are some more vile.
5 out of 10
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
For fans of: Suffocation, Gorguts, Dying Fetus