...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI


..::OPIS::..

Jestem pozytywnie zaskoczony kierunkiem, jaki Cryptopsy obrało na 'An Insatiable Violence'. Powrót do korzeni zdecydowanie im się opłacił, mianowicie już dawno nie słyszałem w ich wykonaniu tak gorącej rzezi. Masa ciekawych patentów, subtelne smaczki muzyczne, potencjał bangerowy i długość sprawiają, że najnowszego rzemiosła Kanadyjczyków słucha się z przyjemnością. Jest to sygnał, że w przyszłości Cryptopsy zacznie wydawać kolejne płyty, którym nie narobi sobie wstydu, czego im właściwie życzę.



I bought the new Cryptopsy blindly, since both their previous album and the EPs that preceded it showed that the guys were in above-average form. But what I got on An Insatiable Violence exceeded my wildest expectations. Cryptopsy has created a death metal monster — an album that’s brutal, furious, and overwhelming; technically dazzling, compositionally breathtaking, and sonically stunning.

And just to be clear — this isn’t even my favorite kind of death metal. I’m most in love with old-school stuff: raw playing with a punky feel, Swedish melodies, Finnish darkness, crumbling rubble, the stench of rotting corpses wafting from decaying graves, and the crunch of shifting bones. The kind of music Cryptopsy plays is polished, mechanical, and insanely precise. But I’d have to be deaf not to appreciate An Insatiable Violence. The Canadians have delivered arguably the most jaw-dropping death metal record of the year — and one of the best in their entire discography.

The riffs crush, the rhythms enslave, and the technique and precision of each track inspire silent awe. The production is incredible — merciless and brutal, yet at the same time so clear, so selective, and so perfectly balanced that even in the most intense moments, it doesn’t dissolve into chaos. Instead, it throbs, pulses, and breathes like a living creature. Like Godzilla trampling a city — and as its ominous shadow falls over us, we hear its breath, its pounding heart, and the sweat dripping down its scaly skin. And when a solo tears into that merciless onslaught, the hairs stand up not only on my head but on my legs too.

Vocally, it’s also excellent. I was never much of a fan of Matt McGachy and secretly prayed to the Holy Virgin for Lord Worm’s return, but this time I have to bow my head and admit — Matt has never sounded this convincing. At times, when he spits out his lines fast, intensely, and mercilessly, I can’t help but think of George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher himself — a man with a throat wider than my shoulders.

I expected another solid Cryptopsy album — something that would entertain me for a few evenings before ending up on a shelf for an indefinite period. Instead, the Canadians return with a work that could give even the genre’s biggest giants an inferiority complex. They're throwing down a gauntlet so bold that, honestly, I don’t see anyone daring to pick it up. And the most wonderful thing is that I’m listening to this record for the sixth or seventh time now, and I still feel like I’m just at the threshold of this world. With every listen, with every hour I devote to it, this album continues to reveal more secrets, boundless riches, and sonic delights.

Maria Konopnicka


Let’s face it: Whether we like it or not, most metal bands that are past their prime tend towards a downward trajectory of songwriting skills, and, after about four or five albums, settle into empty shells of their eroded, former talents. Not so with Cryptopsy (and Immolation and a few other old masters). This is the band’s ninth full-length (or tenth, if you combine the two Book of Suffering EP’s into a single full-length), and they are as spirited, potent, and in-your-face aggressive as they have been since their debut. They refuse to be the beaten old dog of death metal and effortlessly bite the heads off of most young pups in the scene.

That’s not to say that An Insatiable Violence is effortless gunk, however. Au contraire, each member of the band has invested every inch and ounce of his hard-and-long-earned talent into writing, recording, mixing, and producing this masterpiece. The album wastes no time with vacuous, non-metal mood-setters and digs its rabid claws straight into the meat with The Nimis Adoration, which previews the aural assault your eardrums are about to be at the receiving end of for the next half-hour. Every riff, every strike of the snare drum, every melody, and every growl that follows is crafted with mathematical precision to create the maximum emotional pay-off for the Cryptopsy fan. There is both the classic Cryptopsy you are familiar with, and some experimental stuff they have gradually incorporated into their style in the last 20 years. What makes Cryptopsy special, at least to me, is that while several bands can match Cryptopsy on the technical front—no thanks to the flood of guitar nerds ruining the scene lately—not many can also pack the emotional density into each of the multiple layers of guitars, drums, and bass synergies as these artists do in this album. (I am barely done unpacking all of those layers for As Gomorrah Burns, and they drop another one?) And what’s more, in an era of metal bands eschewing guitar solos altogether, there are actually twin guitar solos in a few songs.

Despite being a brutal death metal band, Cryptopsy has shied away from writing overly violent or gory lyrics for much of their career, notwithstanding the decapitated head in one of their coverarts. The pattern isn’t broken here. An Insatiable Violence has lyrics that are both dark and highly relevant to the modern digital society: Nearly every song paints the tragic portrait of someone consumed by the need for external validation, pushing themselves to unsustainable extremes—physically, emotionally, existentially—to achieve a fleeting sense of momentary immortality (oxymoron much?) through exhibitionism. Take the Art of Emptiness, for example. This song is about someone who is already on the precipice of physical frailty, but still craves the high he/she gets from exhibiting himself/herself to the pack of peeking onlookers, until: “I cut back even further, the results were quite shocking; A little bit more each and every day; Which to my surprise only motivated their gawking.” The lyrics of other songs revolve around similar themes of social media voyeurism that borders on sadism, both from the perspectives of the addicted audience and the yet-more-addicted exhibitionists. (I read somewhere that the lyrics to one song was inspired by a dream vocalist Matt McGachy’s had one night.) The “violence” in the title of the album refers more to this type of psychological violence than a physical one: it’s self-destructive, compulsive, addictive…and insatiable.

A word about the production. Christian Donaldson, the multi-talented guitarist of Cryptopsy and the producer of this record, has been producing music since he was 15—what!—which gives him an experience of over 30 years in the production craft. He is familiar with every nook and cranny of Pro Tools, and leverages it to extract the best-sounding texture for each instrument that matches the mood and tone of the album. The end result, in my opinion, is the most well-produced death metal album I’ve heard this year. Seriously, a pair of good earphones and the volume knob dialed up—but not all the way up—gave me a kind of musical pleasure I never knew was possible!

In summary, I strongly recommend An Insatiable Violence to any long-time Cryptopsy fan. I’m utterly in awe that a band of this vintage can not only outperform other TBDM bands of recent times, but to a debatable extent outperform many of their own past records. In my ledger, this is the best death metal album of 2025 (although I am still curious about what Inferi, Demon King, and Psycroptic will churn out later in the year). I know it will keep me busy for some time ahead. I hope their upward trajectory continues into the future, and I wish Flo, Chris, Matt, and Olivier the very best for upcoming records.

Nuclear5641



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. The Nimis Adoration 04:10
2. Until There's Nothing Left 03:58
3. Dead Eyes Replete 03:57
4. Fools Last Acclaim 03:25
5. The Art of Emptiness 04:15
6. Our Great Deception 04:20
7. Embrace the Nihility 03:50
8. Malicious Needs 05:51



..::OBSADA::..

Christian Donaldson - Guitars
Flo Mounier - Drums & Backing Vocals
Matt McGachy - Vocals
Oli Pinard - Bass

Guest Musicians:
Mike DiSalvo on the song 'Embrace the Nihility'




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFWOsXUM2JE



SEED 15:00-22:00.
POLECAM!!!