Review Summary: The pinnacle album of Cryptopsy and all of technical death metal, an essential listen and addition to any collection.
Cryptopsy's None So Vile
Back in the mid ninety's a lot of bands began to take a technical approach. Some notable and memorable albums from this era are the legendary
Suffocation's Pierced From Within and universally-loved
Death's Human. Another is Cryptopsy's None So Vile.
In the 31 minutes that this album spans contains some of the most proficient guitar work, fastest drumming, killer bass lines, and inhuman vocals ever recorded in the genre of technical death metal. While a lot of bands display impressive skill for their specific instrument, this band manages to create excellent musicianship while maintaining these impressive skills. Everything from the guitars to the vocals compliment each other and help create the intense and unique atmosphere within every song.
A notable thing that this album accomplishes is individuality. Most albums suffer from having recycled riffs, over-used blast-beats, and unimaginative vocals. This album does the opposite. Every song has its own unique sound and tempo and is instantly recognizable. While every song has a similar atmosphere, each one has a different mood and feel to it. Some tracks such as 'Graves of the Fathers' has an extremely rapid approach with intense breakdowns. Others such as 'Phobophile' has a haunting feel. Some tracks also have included additional instruments to help create these moods such as the previously mentioned.
As mentioned above, the musicianship displayed on this album is highly impressive, even to today's standards. Jon Levasseu, the lead and rhythm guitarist for this album, displays complex riffs and solos that are difficult to pull-off. So if you're a shredder or looking for several songs to cover or practice to, this would be a good choice. Eric Langlois is an exceptional bassist. There are times that the bass is inaudible, but for the most part it is. When it is, it's a very unique line that compliments the guitar and helps with the overall sound at that particular moment. Flo Mounier remains to be one of the best drummers in the genre. While his drumming is fast and ferocious, it also has a good sense of rhythm and really sets the brutality. Most drummers tend to over-use blast-beats as fills, but Flo uses a variety of fills in the entire album. Last but certainly not least is the infamous Lord Worm. A creative and skilled vocalist is important to help make a band stand-out. Although impossible to decipher, the pitches and sounds Worm can manipulate with his voice is nothing short of amazing. To the extremely guttural growls in 'Crown of Horns' and very lengthy shriek in 'Benedictine Convulsions', Lord Worm is quite possibly the best vocalist in the genre. His talented ability is what really makes this album and band stand out from the rest.
While improving on the formula and surpassing it's predecessor "Blasphemy Made Flesh", None So Vile is nothing short of amazing and stands with many legendary albums from the era. It's quite simply the pinnacle album of Cryptopsy and all of technical death metal, an essential listen and addition to any collection.
