I’ve seen it more times than I care to; “Cryptopsy is solid AF except for that one album that went all modern and stuff.” Jesus H Christ, for real? Who cares when their discography is, as stated, solid AF. I mean, everyone grows and changes and particularly bands that shift members as was the case back then. But anyway, new album Insatiable Violence finds Cryptopsy more brutal, more technical, and more melodic than ever…wait…melodic? Oh snap, here we go again with all you morons out there. So just to be clear these are not melodies to sing ditties to or worry that the most extreme guys you know have went soft. These are melodies to hang your freakin’ hat on and remember like you remember who your family are. They are indeed back and dare I say better than they’ve been in years.

Like I said, the hate on The Unspoken King is tired AF even though I do agree it’s not their best or even close. It does not suck and is still better than anything else you were listening to in 2008. I get it though, Cryptopsy are a legacy band with legacy albums that fans will never, ever get past or be able to admit they like the newer stuff over their older favorites. I jumped on board with And Then You’ll Beg and was instantly hooked by their ultra precise and laser focused technical nature. It was something I hadn’t heard done that well, ever. I then went backwards and found a new favorite band out of it all. But at some point I fell off and didn’t pay attention again until 2023’s As Gomorrah Burns and yet again found myself playing catch up and yet again falling in love with a damn good extreme band. I heard some sneaky hooks in that album that really grabbed me in ways nothing else had. I found something solid to hang onto rather than extreme just for extreme’s sake which turns out was the achilles heel when I dropped off after the Live album; it just seemed to all run together after a while. Thank god for Flo Mounier sticking it out all these years and leaving us old heads with a tried and true legacy band member we can actually hear keeping things in check and on track. Dude is incredible behind the kit and to this day stands as one of the absolute best, fastest, and push-to-new-levels kind of player any band would want in its ranks. Much has been said and made of their past and you can go brush up on their history if the desire strikes so I’ll pump the brakes on that right here.

Album number nine hits harder than the first time you saw Glen Benton with that crucifix burned in his skull…dammit man. Opener “The Nimis Adoration” feathers the throttle slightly for the first few seconds then sprays napalm all over everything. I’ve yet to hear Matt McGachy’s vocals this good, dude has truly hit his stride. Seriously, he sounds like this has been his gig since the beginning; super confident and super loud. Score. Right around the halfway mark a melodic guitar solo cuts the tension then it’s back to business. “Dead Eyes Replete” is a non stop barnburner of galloping riffs and inhuman drumming and carries an all too timely message surrounding YouTube child stars with a loss of innocence that we’ve seen too many times. The track also carries one of the sickest grooves to ever carry the Cryptopsy name. Check it out and tell me when you find it that you didn’t do a desk side mosh, go ahead I’ll wait. “Fools Last Acclaim” shifts gears like a Nascar driver at Bristol while “The Art Of Emptiness” hits all the band’s offerings at full speed and comes complete with a frigid sci-fi-esque atmosphere, brrrr. “Embrace The Nihility” features a guest vocal spot from none other than Mike DiSalvo so it goes without saying we’ve got another banger. But, besides that, the track is a chugging juggernaut of a type we’ve never heard from these guys. It just has so much to offer. 

Bottom line is this: I hear things here that I’ve never heard on a Cryptopsy album and I hear things that top their late 90s performances. However, the biggest thing I hear is a band still on its way up with sooooo much more to give. An Insatiable Violence is a creative win for the band in its current state and I have no idea how they top this. Of course, I have no idea how they’ve managed to grow more extreme over the years yet here we are. This is one of the band’s most extreme and most melodically catchy albums at the same time, period. I think they’ve done a great job at reading the very abbreviated attention span of the world at large and given all of us something to latch onto that’s not just extreme or just technical for the sake of either. They’ve gifted us a really great extreme death metal record and this far along that’s something to be applauded. Plus, it’s a fit and trim half hour and change—in and out with all the asses kicked. Let’s hope they stick to the every couple of years cadence for new material but with this album in hand, I’ll be good either way.

— Josh

---

An Insatiable Violence will be available June 20 on Season of Mist. For more information on Cryptopsy, visit their Facebook page.