ALBUM REVIEW: Cryptworm – Spewing Mephitic Putridity

UK Death Metallers CRYPTWORM have given us some truly abhorrent tunes up to now, where the unleash their rotten debut full length via Me Saco Un Ojo Records, Pulverised Records and Extremely Rotten Productions.

Bouncing into a barrage of putrid riffing, the malignant chunky soundscapes of Cryptworm don’t mess around with some half-assed introduction, rather giving us an instantaneous bout of rotten spew. Festering guitars solidly groove of tight drums while the ultra-low register vocals give a gurgling intensity to the hideous heaviness. Cryptworm, much like their clear sonic forebears Undergang have a similarly grotesque grooviness that jumps from blastbeats and tremolo picking filth into headbanging swings of offal-summoning harshness, all while retaining the most unhinged elements of brutality throughout. Specifically dissecting individual songs seems a bit redundant as the record works rather as a whole than a series of songs, due to the similarities from track to track. I don’t mean they all sound the same, but rather flow as a cascade of putrescence. Cryptworm clearly sit most comfortably in mid-tempos with the superb grooves I have mentioned a lot already, but do not be fooled, they can hit warped faster sections with equal malice and also slow things into more Death-Doom territories to truly crawl under your skin with their sewerous stench.

Having cultivated their sound and stuck to it from day 1, it would be remiss to say if you like Cryptworm or their contemporaries, this album is going to rule for you. But if you have not yet had the rancid joy of discovering these depraved duo, you will be greeted with unwelcoming, hostile and utterly fantastic old school Death Metal that has a clear production to make sure you cannot miss the sonic upheaval of all things pleasant while the sheer grossness of the music ensures it sounds in no way “clean” or “nice”. The barrelling assault through 8 tracks feels like it is over in an instant, but never rushed. More that the exciting hooks make sure you aren’t sat looking at a clock, really getting their hooks into your brain and making sure you spin the record again and again, which for ultimately primitive music is quite hard to achieve with the modern attention span. I think it is obvious Cryptworm will stand stoic, allowing everything outside to pass them by meaninglessly while they stick to their guns and make truly hideous, mangled and brilliant Death Metal. These guys aren’t going to progress for anyone, but if you want your brains pulverised and skull stomped into mulch, stick around and check out “Spewing Mephitic Putridity”.

While there was no doubt in my mind that the debut full length of Cryptworm would rule, I am still impressed and glad that they followed the EP’s with such a contorted slab of Death Metal magnificence. Some of the grimiest sounds you will hear this year (and quite likely longer).