Cryptopsy - The Unspoken King
Century Media - - 26 May 2008
By Paddy Walsh
The return of Lord Worm to the
Cryptopsy fold for 05's
Once Was Not should have been a triumphant return to the highs of the brilliantly malignant malevolence of
None So Vile. However, a phoned-in vocal performance coupled with some rather tepid songwriting resulted in the group's least inspiring work to date. Lord Worm's obvious ambivalence towards the task saw his reappearance as a disappointing nostalgia trip, sullying the band's name worse than anything the much-maligned Mike DiSalvo put his vocal chords to. Yet, the biggest problem with
Cryptopsy's latter-day material has had less to do with vocalists than an increasing reliance on technicality - Flo Mournier's always jaw-dropping blasting speed in particular - over songwriting. Not once since
None So Vile have we been treated to anything to match the likes of 'Phobophile', 'Crown of Horns' or 'Slit Your Guts'.
The Unspoken King - featuring new vocalist Matt McGachy, a keyboardist in Maggy Durand and the loss of long-term guitarist Jon Levasseur - is unfortunately no different.
Indeed,
Cryptopsy go down some frankly bemusing avenues on their latest batch, such as the godawful 'Bemoan the Martyr' which includes ill-advised emo-esque crooning in a hackneyed attempt to latch onto the
Dillinger Escape Plan bandwagon. Elsewhere, memorable riffs are a virtual non-event, with myriad unconnected, complicated riffs vying for attention in a messy barrage that gives little adherence to cohesion. Flo's drumming is as usual second to none, but by this stage it seems as though he's playing as fast as possible just for the sake of it, because he can. Is it unreasonable to expect more from the band that brought us a bona fide death metal classic in the past? 'Leach' and its cohorts also go down the cleanly sung chorus route, and McGachy is certainly no Greg Puciato despite possessing a fairly diverse range of growls and screams at his disposal.
Cryptopsy seem at something of a loss as to what direction they want to take on
The Unspoken King. Death metal? Death core?
DEP clone? The whole thing plays like a mish-mash of ideas flung together in a flurry of technical riffing that simply fails to hold the attention. It's galling that the only memorable moments occur because of their sheer ham-fistedness, and this along with a dry-washed-out production leaves
The Unspoken King as
Cryptopsy's weakest effort yet. Furthermore, Maggy Durand's name in the band member list is a mystery, for there is little sign of her input aside from the occasional trite noises that have found their way onto past
Cryptopsy albums anyway. A major disappointment from a band who have lost direction -
The Unspoken King was a golden opportunity to clear the decks after the misstep of Lord Worm's return, but
Once Was Not is a classic compared to this.
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