Album Review: Cytotoxin - Biographyte
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
Radiation themed German technical death metal monsters Cytotoxin have in my eyes seen a huge jump in popularity over the past half decade. After all the band have released a series of superb technical slabs of modern death metal taking the listener on a series of stories from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 which have formed the previous releases by the band along with being one of the tightest live acts I have seen. All this work has led on to Biographyte which is the band's 5th full length.
Armed with the technical precision that Cytotoxin are known for Biographyte gets right to it, with a blistering display of intricate guitar work to open the proceedings of the record. What I find quite apparent with Biographyte is that Cytotoxin have streamlined the sound focusing more on the technical elements and toning down slightly on the brutal sound, now it i's still a massively heavy sounding record but lacks some of the more sinister brutality of precious efforts.
That being said Cytotoxin really knows how to write a riff and this record is full of a variety of fantastically crafted riffs from start to finish and it's not all fret board wizardry but it's all solid from the chuggy rhythm playing, to the ruthless spammy sections right back to the sweep picking mastery. Drum work is also as smooth as it comes, they almost glide through each song giving a severe bite where needed and providing that much needed groove to the tracks where required. Vocally you are treated to a big powerful vocal performance. The vocals are low and extremely large in their presence within the record. Now we have seen a real shift where vocals are becoming the focus with a lot of more popular death metal bands to the point where it overshadows everything else. Biographyte does not fall into that trap instead they are treated as they should be a key part working together with the rest of the group to create something brilliant.
It's a huge mean technical death metal record, while it may not be as brutal as some of their earlier material Cytotoxin have produced another solid slab of death metal.
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