Kev Rowland
It has taken 11 years for Canadian Death Metallers Cryptopsy to return with their eighth full-length album, and it is interesting to read the differing reviews which are popping up. Some are saying it is the best since the departure of Lord Worm, some say that may be the case but that doesn’t mean much, others still think their one foray into deathcore immediately excludes them from ever releasing anything worthwhile, then others ask what happened to the band which released the classic ‘None So Vile’? I didn’t hear that one at the time, but I was asked to review ‘None So Live’ some 20 years ago and I was immediately taken by the Canucks, searching out past releases as there was something about them which I immediately enjoyed. But I didn’t come across the studio albums after that, and it is only now they have signed with Nuclear Blast that they have again come onto my radar.
Drummer Flo Mounier has long been widely regarded as one of the very finest in the scene, able to switch styles and beats throughout, always driving the band from the back, and here he is in his element. Christian Donaldson has multi-tracked guitars on top of guitars to create layers of intricacy, while bassist Olivier Pinard either sits in the pocket or even jumps out at the front to add nuances, while singer Matt McGachy is in total control. There is a powerful use of contrast within this album, with slower sections here and there, solos which are more controlled than then absolute shredfest one might expect, while the riffs are massively complex and dynamic. I enjoyed the earlier period of this band, and while the fanbase does appear somewhat split on this, to my ears ‘As Gomorrah Burns’ is a very fine album indeed, with its only major fault being that at just 8 songs and 33 minutes in length it is just too short. If you enjoy technical death metal then this is one to seek out as Cryptopsy are back with a bang.