Album Review: Cryptorium - Descent Into Lunacy
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Quite a few bands have been churning their albums out, especially before the years end and many due for release come November 29th. One of these is Sweden’s very own Cryptorium who are seeking to unleash their debut full length release, Descent Into Lunacy. Formed in 2022 originally out of Stockholm, though now it’s between there and Karlstad, Cryptorium are another extreme metal act to showcase Scandinavia’s hugely eclectic metal reach, for the band were quick to get their first Demo, Cryptic Bloodlust, out just a year on from their inception. With two additional Singles recorded and releases this year, it all prepared us for what would be their first full length album. Now I’m a sucker for bands releasing their first records for it’s a prime opportunity to see what a band is truly made of and seeing as they’re already signed on to Personal Records for this album launch, it could only suggest favourable things on the horizon. I was very excited to see what Cryptorium had to offer.
Like many Swedish death metal works, Descent Into Lunacy has this ripping, shredding vibe that makes it impossible to turn away from. However it isn’t so visceral that we can assign to it the title of the buzzsaw tone, for whilst it’s edges are evidently lacerated it still possesses enough of a solid edge, and its sheen isn’t so glistening, so it enables our attention to hold a firmer grasp upon the riffs. This isn’t a guitar attack that’s constantly trying to outrun its audience, yet it certainly forces us to stick with it owing to its ever-changing variations of tempo which thus render the songwriting a malleable, fluidic quality. Though the band naturally sport a cunning for violence, it’s far from some one-dimensional work where gut-wrenching hysteria is the only means of engagement.
Speaking of which, I think half this album’s selling point is how it’s able to keep us engaged throughout its many, many differing turns and changes. We’ve established Cryptorium aren’t trying to bash your brains in all the time, with songwriting and tempo that organically evolves pending on what the track requires in the moment. But whilst the guitar work is thrashing around, I’d deem the bass to be the integral piece that binds us to their performance; when listening to this record the riffs will be coming at and through you yet it’s the basslines, thundering far above the rest of the band’s performance, that seemingly ties everything down like a massive paperweight. The bass not only keeps the riffs from flying off but, acting like a ceiling, establishes the parameters the record abides by which thereby helps us understand the album’s dimensions. Descent Into Lunacy therefore feels massive and intimate at the same time.
I love the total intelligibility of the vocals we’ve got here; but on an album such as this, the sheer absurdity of these gutturals, the phlegm and bile that’s seemingly thrown up every time their vocalist opens his mouth matches the aesthetic Cryptorium harness. Whilst the band are playing death metal that’s eviscerating with a concrete edge, there’s this pervading, putrefying quality persisting across their full runtime, as if something malicious were decaying with heinous intent. It separates Cryptorium from their contemporaries, wherein one imagines limbs falling away from rot as the band play, and the record moulds and develops fungi in a moment’s notice. The vocals and drums are a little lower in the mix but that simply means the vocals sink further into the background, crafting that miasmic, putrescent atmosphere.
It’s great to acknowledge how Cryptorium as a band are able to utilise the far extremes of speed and intensity to their advantage. Most bands you’ll find their songwriting with enough variety to get you from start to finish, however Cryptorium really did their best to write songs and music that could be lightning fast one minute, and deathly slow and empty the next, where only a lone riff or bassline occupies the track. It demonstrates that with every track the band could throw you something completely left-field and, whilst you’d think you had this record underpinned, fully understood, Cryptorium are more than capable of delivering songwriting you may not be expecting. It could be viciously quick one moment with blast beats before they slow it down to a crunching, crashing onslaught before picking the pace up, or slowing it down, even more, and then give you something totally unique in the next piece. The album only has thirty minutes to work with so the band don’t have time to dally and need to get their hard work conveyed to you as concisely as possible.
In conclusion, Descent Into Lunacy is a fascinating album because upon first glance, this isn’t anything that showcases it to be anything other than another work of contemporary death metal, and while it doesn’t stay around for very long it manages to equally entertain and surprise me. Cryptorium evidently have many tricks up their sleeve to give songwriting more credence and attention than merely ripping riffs and gargling vocals alone could do. The latter elements are always vital in more extreme metal but it’s not like Cryptorium only have those techniques to bolster their soundscape. There’s an intriguing variety of tempo and atmospherics to keep things naturally fresh and abundantly new so although we have the gist of their sound down early on, we soon realise there’s plenty to unpack and appreciate. As first albums go Descent Into Lunacy is a roaring start and I’d be mighty interested to see where Cryptorium takes themselves next. One to look out for certainly.
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