Cryptopsy

And Then You’ll Beg (Century Media)
by Tim Den

I’d heard Cryptopsy was so mindblowingly technical that Atheist would bow their heads in shame… Not true, I tell ye, for And Then You’ll Beg shows plenty of promising muscles but not such tangled arrangements. The vocals are reminiscent of Vader (strong, clear, yet low), the music a nicely recorded bunch of palm-muted grinds and weird pull-offs (especially on “Voice of Unreason,” a tune that clearly shows Ripping Corpse influence), all of which makes Cryptopsy a very potent death metal machine. But comparatively, this band is not even close to technical heaven. The aforementioned Vader and newcomers Decapitated could easily out careful-grind these Canucks. And Then You’ll Beg is a very brutal, enjoyable death metal album, one I’ll keep around to play again and again, but it’s not the most mind-boggling one you’ll find if you look more closely.
(1453-A 14th St. #324 Santa Monica, CA 90404)