Cryptopsy - The Book of Suffering (Tome 1) Review

11/12/2015 Reviews Share

Cryptopsy - The Book of Suffering (Tome 1) Review

"The hearing from the sounds of hell is very real... and I warn you what you are about to hear is very disturbing indeed".

I couldn't agree more. After a 3 year-long break, Cryptopsy finally released new material: The Book of Suffering (Tome 1). Some of the Cryptopsy fans might be backed off by a fact that Flo Mounier is the only original Cryptopsy member in the band, but, this 17 minte EP should definitely prove them wrong! And what's the most important is that both new and old Cryptomaniacs will surely be satisfied!

After the quote mentioned above, all hell is breaking loose! Detritus (The One They Kept) is a pretty brutal opener! Killer riffs, combined with excellent drumming and guttural vocals on top of everything... Short bridge inserted between the main riff sounds like a train that got out of control! Whole EP is spiced by these tiny changes and progressions with a degree of high proficiency. By listening to it, you may notice how good the arrangement of songs is. As for Detritus, the death metal shredding, blast beat madness is interrupted by a groovy calm before the storm closely followed by a catchy breakdown, typical for the Canadian masters. And after all that, the song is finally closed by an extremely good tapping riff.

The next one on the list, The knife, the Head and what Remains starts with noisy Meshuggah-like sounds, and then transforms into a sonic grinder. Matt Mc Gachy's hellish scream irresistibly reminds me of Cannibal Corpse's frontman, George Corpsegrinder. Christian Donaldson's balance between the old and new sounding Cryptopsy riffs wouldn't work if the guy wasn't capable of putting down his own stamp to the songs. And he did that in a really dynamic way.

The Knife's overall old school Cryptopsy riffs combined with crazy breakdown in between is what makes it the finest song on this Ep. Olivier Pinard's bass attack will make you feel as if you were punched in the teeth! But what I really love about this song is the screeching noise coming from the guitars. Donaldson's jazzy solo as the song is coming to an end can be nothing but the icing on the cake. As your brain is still fighting with disbelief because of the overall awesomeness of the previous 2 songs, Halothane Glow kicks in. Can't be more old school than that! If you are true Cryptopsy fan, the solo bass part will remind you of Cold Hate, Warm Blood or Slit your Guts for sure!!! However, Flo showed no mercy to the drum set in Halothane Glow. This song even has 2 kick ass breakdowns - who needs excessive solos anyways?

Framed by Blood is probably the most dynamic and by far the most melodic song of the EP. It starts with a groovy riff and Mc Gachy's pig squeals. All of this is interrupted by a classical sounding guitar mastery. The melodic riff and the one before the solo are just perfect! Speaking of solos, it sounds like the band invited Dan Mongrain for this purpose which is probably the best compliment Christian Donaldson could get.

What really caught my eye is the way in which the production was done. It reminds me of Cryptopsy's fellow Canadian friends, Teramobil. And above all, Cryptopsy is one of the bands who are doing things on their own, without label pressure or anything like that. You just have to give them credit for it. Hands down.

Lyrics are as brutal as the music. Detritus is a story of a heart broken death metal guy with blood on his hands. Pretty wicked, right ? to Halothane Glow is even more obscene. But it's death metal, it is meant to make you vomit! I would love to see all these die hard feminists' faces while reading porngrind humor! Man, I'll have to watch Pedro Almodovar's Tie me up! Tie me down! again after all of this!

If you are a fan of brutal/drumming/riffage/vocals/breakdowns The Book of Suffering is your cup of tea! And just for the record, Cryptopsy's new EP makes Book of Souls sound like a mediocre lullaby or something. However, it is Montreal Quebec band we are talking about!!

I guess none have heard an album this vile...for a while!!! Viva la France!