CRYPTOPSY — The Book of Suffering (Tome 1) (review)

CRYPTOPSY — The Book of Suffering (Tome 1) album cover EP · 2015 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"The Book of Suffering (Tome 1)" is an EP release by Canadian death metal act Cryptopsy. The EP was independently released in October 2015. Cryptopsy divided their fanbase with the release of "The Unspoken King (2008)", which many fans felt was too much in deathcore territory, but returned to a more familiar technical death metal sound on "Cryptopsy" from 2012 (although that album too features some non traditional parts like the odd jazzy sections, which was a new element at the time). "The Book of Suffering (Tome 1)" is the first new original material since the self-titled release...

...and this is probably the release the old fans of Cryptopsy have been waiting for, because the band have taken a step back to their roots on the 4 track, 16:51 minutes long EP. Matt McGachy is still a more "core" tinged death metal vocalist than what some old school death metal fans might be able to accept (yeah there is the odd piggy squeal and screaming hardcore vocal section here and there), but his performance here is the closests he has yet come to sounding "old school" growling. The vocals are generally both raw, powerful, and commanding. To my ears it´s a solid performance by McGachy. It´s the instrumental part of the music that takes the prize though. It may initially sound chaotic and confusing, but listen a bit more closely and you´ll be rewarded with some incredible technical playing and interesting song structures. In other words it´s structured chaos played by very skilled musicians. The music is predominanty delivered in a frenetic fast-paced fashion, but there are heavier groove laden sections featured on the EP too.

Drummer Flo Mounier as always deserves a speciel mention for his inventive and crazy fast technical drumming. He truly is one of the most prolific and adventurous extreme metal drummers out there and proves it once again on "The Book of Suffering (Tome 1)". The guitars and bass also play riffs and notes that are technically of another world, and it´s almost impossible not to be blown away by the intensity and virtuosic skill of the performances.

"The Book of Suffering (Tome 1)" features a powerful, raw, and well sounding production too, and upon conclusion it´s another high quality release by Cryptopsy. It´ll be interesting to see if this is the first step to reconquering the throne or if it´s just a temporary meassure to nurse the old fans before they completely abandon ship. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Černé Srdce Atmospheric Sludge Metal
ARCHETYP
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anomalia Metalcore
AGREMORTA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ingräte Metalcore
INGRÄTE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Fossil Gardens Black Metal
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Из Чего Я Состою Crust Punk
MARIE GUELLA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 9 hours ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed