siLLy puPPy With a debut album that appeared in 1994, it may seem that CRYPTOSY came late to the death metal party but this early pioneer of old school death metal which emerged from Montreal, Quebec actually started out as early as 1988. In April of that year drummer Mike Atkin, guitarist Steve Thibault and vocalist Dan Greening better known as Lord Worm formed a band called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but quickly decided that the moniker was not metal enough and switched to the more suitable Necrosis. Bassist John Todd then joined and then like any good death metal band, released a bunch of demos and went through turbulent changes. Around 1993 Kevin Weagle joined on bass to release the demo “Ungentle Exhumation” ended up on Gore Records and then caught the attention of the German label Invasion Records.

Invasion Records folded due to financial difficulties and the big shakeup occurred. Weagle was replaced by Martin Fergusson, Atkin was replaced by drummer Flo Mounier and and lead guitarist John Levasseur also jumped on board. This left guitarist Steve Thibault and vocalist Lord Worm as the only founding members and the lineup that recorded the band’s debut full-length release BLASPHEMY MADE FLESH, the only album with this lineup as Fergusson would leave after the tour and become replaced by Eric Langlois who would define the classic CRYPTOSY sound. A lot had changed in the world of death metal since the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder days. Death metal started out as a more brutal form of thrash metal with more depraved vocals but by 1994 when this album debuted the style had seen the advent of the extreme brutality ushered in by Suffocation as well as a new form of technical wizardry pioneered by later Death releases, Atheist and Cynic. CRYPTOSY adopted both aspects.

BLASPHEMY MADE FLESH in many ways is simply a more spruced up take on early death metal and in the process debuted at a time when the death metal scene was starting to go stale. While CRYPTOSY checked off all the death metal attributes such as heavy down-tuned guitar riffs at a million miles per second, incessant percussive mania from Mounier and the depraved guttural growls of Lord Worm, the band had obviously paid attention to what was going on in the death metal underground. While not so technical sounding compared to modern standards, CRYPTOSY took the old school death metal chugs, added a few Morbid Angel squeals and created an even more labyrinthine parade of caustic distortion fueled rampages that ranged from spot on tightness with the instrumental interplay to more sloppy segments of raw lo-fi ferocity. Album number one was made on a budget and the production as a result is quite primitive but given the ugly bestial nature of this album, it actually works quite well IMHO.

What’s unique for BLASPHEMY and an annoyance for some is the excessive use of snare drums for a percussive beat however personally it doesn’t bother me so much. While incessant, even dissonant metal rage is the norm, there is an underlying melodic flow to the compositions which are only exposed as the veil thins such as at the beginning of “Serial Messiah” which begins with a short keyboard run as well as the wailing guitar solos that sporadically pop up offering neoclassical wankery in melancholic minor-key melodies most pronounced on the album’s closer “Pathological Frolic” which would be a major influence on future artists like Necrophagist. Also interesting is how this album sounds a few years older than it is as the chugging riffs often sound like peak era Pantera on album’s like “Cowboys From Hell” with that groove metal swagger. Possibly due to the build up of material.

All in all, i find BLASPHEMY MADE FLESH to be quite the competent debut album with an incessant primeval rawness that made early death metal so fucking cool. The tracks zigzag around like a flaming colony of lemmings jumping over the cliff and into the sea and its not too difficult to hear why Mounier is considered one of the fastest drummers of the era as his frenetic percussive bombast is the backbone for the intense rhythmic drive which the guitars and bass are merely under his gravitational pull. While CRYPTOSY would continue on and see more changes with more polished albums, this one stands tall and proud as the fierce DIY project that generated a wealth of catchy cool death metal tracks straddling the old school by then traditions and pioneering the brave new world of tech death laced with brutality. Solid. And yeah the original freaky eye album cover is the best one!

voila_la_scorie “Blasphemy Made Flesh” is the debut album by Montreal technical death metal band, Cryptopsy. There are three versions: the original 1994 Hammerheart release, a 1997 re-release by Displeased Records, and a 2001 re-release by Century Media, which features a different cover.

This is my first experience with Cryptopsy and I was interested in the band because I had discovered that Montreal had a hot death metal scene going and I decided to check out some groups. After my usual cursory listen on YouTube, I decided to get this album first because of the frequent cropping up of the bass guitar, which reminded me of Quebec metal legends, Voivod.

The sound on my CD copy, the original Hammerheart release, is pretty poor when going from any much better-produced album. First, I have to knock the volume up three clicks, and the sound quality difference between a well-produced, more recent death metal album and this one is enormous. However, like many albums, “Blasphemy” doesn’t sound so bad once you get into the album atmosphere. Like many extreme metal bands of the day, recording quality was frequently pretty poor.

Cryptopsy’s sound is heavy, brutal, and pummeling. The guitars are really low, so much so that the bass guitar notes really pop out at times, especially when the bass gets a brief solo break (solo here meaning playing alone for a bar and not lead). What I appreciate is that the band can employ both very high speed playing and slow down for some very heavy, crushing riffs. I have also noted that Cryptopsy know how to play slow and heavy and keep the drums in tempo. Many bands I have heard recently will play medium tempo music but have the bass drums and snare going full tilt. It sounds great usually but sometimes seems unnecessary. On this album slower playing often means a slower beat. Conversely, sometimes the drums strike at a fairly slow tempo while the guitars are going nuts. These changes in speed, though, are good for appreciating the some of the riffs and guitar work.

Vocalist, Lord Worm (Dan Greening), delivers really deep, guttural barking and some mega-screams that are as frightening as a storm banshee trying to enter your room on a blustery night to wake the dead. At first I was a bit put off his vocal style because I seriously could not pick out anything he belch-roared. I looked at the lyrics for a track like “Open Face Surgery” which reads:

“I’ve learned to control my thoughts / Ever since I recognized the first eavesdropper / Those who listen in on my thoughts / My logic, my sanity”

But what I can pick out at best sounds like: “Wudaboit, biddatboit, budahboit, biidah! Weahbuot, biddahbuot, buadbuit, biidadut!” There are times when I think I can almost decipher the gruff utterances and follow along with the lyrics, but then the vocalizations stop when I’ve only reached the third line of a four-line verse. Song after song, I really have not one iota of a clue what words comprise the lyrics of these tracks. Reading the lyrics and listening to the songs I feel like the lyrics are the translations of an angry Neanderthal’s ranting. But I actually don’t mind. Listening to the whole album straight through it all becomes part of the sonic experience. A funny thing, even the spoken lines in one track aren’t easy to pick out. “Serial Messiah”, by its opening church organ notes and a meekly speaking youth uttering, “Get off me you bastard”, would seem to be about Catholic priests who prey upon young boys. But we hear hurried footsteps, a door open, and the youth’s attempt at defiance, and then this is followed by a deep voice saying what sounds like “I need gas for the lawn!” Or maybe it’s “I need ask for the Lord”. I am totally unsure. But again, I consider the vocals part of the entertainment factor so I’m okay with them.

The only real complaint I have is that the snare drum is mixed quite loud compared to the much lower-toned guitars and so sometimes it seems the dominant sound in the mix is the high-speed snare drum playing which leaves the guitars just deep rumbles barely discernable above the percussion and demonic barking.

I’m curious about some of the band’s more recent albums. This first offering has its strengths, mostly in the actual music played, but the production needs improvement. Not a total winner but good enough to merit further investigation into this band.

UMUR "Blasphemy Made Flesh" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian death metal act Cryptopsy. The album was released in November 1994 by Invasion Records. Following the group´s later success and rise to death metal stardom, "Blasphemy Made Flesh" has been re-released by Displeased Records and Century Media Records. The Century Media Records version has a different cover artwork.

The music on the album is US inspired brutal and technically well played death metal. Right off the bat it´s obvious what a clever and skilled drummer Flo Mounier actually is. The man is an absolute power house and whenever the music becomes a bit death metal monotone (and it does), the drumming always ensure that my attention doesn´t wander. The rest of the band are also skilled musicians and lead vocalist Lord Worm has a pretty distinct growling style, which is always appreciated by this reviewer. While song-titles like "Open Face Surgery", "Swine of the Cross" and "Pathological Frolic" maybe don´t reveal it, the lyrics on the album are actually very clever. The content may be extreme, dealing with death, murder, blasphemy and other usual suspects in death metal, but the way they are written set them apart from most other death metal lyrics. They feature a kind of dark and bizarre humour which provide the album with an extra dimension that´s greatly appreciated in my book.

"Blasphemy Made Flesh" isn´t a perfect album by any means. The production isn´t the strongest (that snare drum sound drives me crazy in a bad way) and the songwriting could have been a bit more varied but I found myself enjoying the album quite a bit anyways. Especially when reading the lyrics while listening to the album. I´d say a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.