Review Summary: Boring, overrated, predictable, repetitive... An album that fails to impress, despite the amount of hyperbolic claim it receives.
Regardless of how much hate mail I'll receive from all the die-hard, loyal Cryptopsy fans, I have to get something off my chest.
None So Vile is as boring and predictable as
Epic Movie or anything with Adam Sandler in. There, I've said it and I strongly believe that it is one of the most overrated albums in the intricate genre that is death metal. At the point of this release, Cryptopsy were perhaps the most respected technical death metal band in the world, thanks to the release of the band's debut,
Blasphemy Made Flesh. That album represented both Cryptopsy and death metal as a whole, boasting the undeniable skill and talent of Flo Mounier, the legendary crushing riffs provided by one man, the legendary Jon Levasseur and unique basswork delivered by Eric Langlois... Or, if you prefer, nine tracks of sheer brutality plagued by the main flaws of rough production and repetitive guitar hooks. Cryptopsy fans, dry your eyes and read on.
It's not that I completely despise this album. True, it does have its moments, mainly in the form of tracks like
Crown Of Thorns,
Slit Your Guts and
Phobophile.
Crown Of Thorns opens up with a sample from
Exorcist III: Dominion, before the band molester your ears with brutality and Lord Worm's bloodchilling scream, the driving force behind the ear rape. The track progresses to boast the talent of the legendary Flo Mounier, as he storms his way past your eardrums and through your brain. Jon Levasseur and Eric Langlois touch you at the same time, showing the undeniable skill that each member owns.
Slit Your Guts picks up where
Crown Of Thorns left off, following roughly in the same vein. Flo continues to blast beat his way through your body, as Eric Langlois plays some of his most complex work on the album, which is especially audible during the break. The guitarwork, however; sounds too simple, especially after listening to the previous track, and sounds as though it may have been improvised on the day of recording.
Phobophile begins with an evil sounding piano piece, which is, maybe, the most unique thing on the album.
Phobophile claims a catchy chorus guitar part as well as one of the best solos on the album.
Graves Of The Fathers,
Lichmistress and
Orgiastic Disembowelment are all average tracks, featuring mediocre and unimaginative guitarwork, yet superb drumming, with Lord Worm sitting in his usual comfort spot, alongside the usual solos. For me,
Dead And Dripping and
Benedictine Convulsions are competing for the worst track of the album. Both feature simple, bland guitarwork, with mediocre bass parts following suit and, in some parts, unfortunately, simplistic drumming.
And then there's Lord Worm. I don't quite know what to make of him as a death metal vocalist. He's justs as bland and as unimaginative as Glen Benton, yet he can make his unholy vocal chords go deeper. He really is impossible to decipher, even with a lyric sheet, and rarely adding variety as well. But despite all this, he still remains one of the most respected death metal vocalists of all time. And why? I don't know. He has something that I cannot put my finger on. Anyone?
The production is rough, adding texture and making each track sound darker and more evil than anything on
Blasphemy Made Flesh. Despite this though, it sounds far too tame, however good it was for the year it was recorded, similar, in places, to Cannibal Corpse's
Tomb Of The Mutilated. Oh, if only
None So Vile owned the production that
Kill had! This album is in need of some serious remastering. The drumming sounds far too tame, however brutal Flo manages to make it, the guitars are sometimes lost behind Flo (again, similar to the band's debut) and the vocals sounds pushed back in the mix a little too far. The bass, believe it or not, is audible nearly all the time, sometimes being louder than the guitars, which have a similar tone throughout the album.
So there we are, Cryptopsy's overrated, boring, repetitive, sometimes bland, below average, just-another-death-metal-album magnum opus. Granted, it's not as boring as watching an episode of Big Brother, nor watching
Epic Movie, nor even listening to Metallica's even
more overrated
The Black Album, but it's not far from it. And if this is meant to be their best, then
The Unspoken King must be a complete abortion of an album...
