Cryptosis - Celestial Death

When bands make big shifts in sound, it is a huge gamble because if it is a miss it can mean the death of them. For the Netherlands’ Cryptosis, they released a highly Thrash tinged album with some progressive elements, but what really made it stand out was it was almost nearly all instrumental sounding, letting the guitars and drums really have the spotlight with backing keyboards and orchestral arrangements that felt a bit like Emperor if they weren’t Black Metal and touching on barking vocals that were a mix between Exodus and Municipal Waste in a near Punk Thrash style. It was a very catchy, very near faster style without less wizardry of Animals as Leaders and landed well with the listeners, especially for the mix of sci-fi themes. Now fast forward years later and the 2nd album is out via Century Media records but right off the bat something feels different. The question is does it feel right as well? The lineup is still the same between all three members so no new influences have been brought in, but it feels a step away from Thrash and more towards Progressive.

A focus on the spacier side of things is present in the sci-fi tinged ‘Prologue’ that is dramatic, keyboard operatics that falls somewhere between Emperor and Cynic, but things really kick off with ‘Faceless Matter’ which is much more vocal driven and keyboards, abandoning the guitar focused sound as it almost feels more Melodeath a times in its delivery with the heaps of symphonics among the solos, ringing from anywhere to Scar Symmetry to Shade Empire. The extra vocal time is probably going to be the biggest surprise for listeners, but with more Thrash focused bark is appreciated, almost touching on a Sylosis style from earlier albums. The Prog Thrash becomes clearer with ‘Static Horizon’ as the guitars get more attention especially with their solos, but even with more of a focus on them the constant presence of the keyboards definitely makes the overall focus seem more like a loaded symphonic effort, thanks to Frank te Riet, for better or worse. The guitar work from Laurens Houvast along with the vocals are solid though, mostly sweeping and dramatic, but the solos would have done better to shine on their own such as on the track ‘Ascending’ compared to many of the others as they tend to get buried by the symphonics. The drums at least are ever present in lots of the tracks from Marco Prij in their clear pounding, but they feel like more of a support than a focus for the album, versus the debut where they were a big attention grabber along with the guitars.

The spacey keyboards again get more of a spotlight here on “Celestial Death” with more interludes sprinkled in before like ‘Motionless Balance,’ but while enhancing the atmosphere, it feels like it breaks up the momentum of the Thrashier side, giving more way to Prog than anything else. The symphonics do shift a bit though after this interlude, instead of relying on keyboards adding in the dramatic choirs in Mortemia fashion on ‘Reign of Infinite’ and thankfully they don’t drown out the guitars and when they shine, they do shine. But, even their spotlight is short lived as the symphonics/ keyboards come back in and dominate 75 percent of a track like ‘Absent Presence,’ again enhancing the sci-fi feel, but also bringing more of the mechanized than the human side to the music, compared to a track like ‘In Between Realities’ which is fast, furious and guitar/ drum/ vocal hitting rather than waiting for looping synths to finish their part halfway through before the heavier side kicks in. Those who enjoy the thrashier side of things and are expecting mosh driven tracks will get a little bored listening to the build up before the ‘Metal’ really shows up.

‘Crytopsphere’ is probably the one track that one can really feel they can go wild to as it finally feels a bit like old Cryptosis. The guitars and drums are just on full on blast and even the vocals and symphonics feel like they get left in the dust a bit as they try to keep up. It is fast, heavy, energetic, and while certainly not as Prog driven as some of the other tracks, this upped level up speed is going to be appreciated by a lot of Metal fans. On the other hand, the more ‘come down’ effect that sounds like the outro track from Dimmu Borgir’s “Puritanical” album in its pace and tone might be a little more of a let down despite its dramatic guitar tones layered with the keyboards and overall brings this rather heavy opera to a close. The end result feeling might be a mixed bag because after such a guitar focused debut, the shift of a more towards vocals and keyboard/ synth might not resonate well with most fans. Those who like a dramatic sound overall that doesn’t fall into cheesy like ‘Disney choir’ styled symphonics but still feels like it carries a bunch of ‘epic atmosphere’ will find “Celestial Death” a fun, despite less energized direction to go in. The symphonics do seem to weigh down the album at times, but overall it works without feeling boring save for some of the lengthy interlude tracks. Those who enjoy more of a guitar Thrash Prog touch with mostly instrumental work on it like that of a band like Persefone who are well known for balancing their soft with heavy will be somewhat disappointed in the shift of sound, but it still feels like Cryptosis still have a balance mostly as they try to let elements that didn’t get the spotlight before shine here, so after “Celestial Death” it will be interesting to see what space influenced headbangers they come up with next. 

3.5 / 5 STARS