Two years ago, Cryptopsy returned with a new full-length that was their strongest in decades in As Gomorrah Burns. The long-standing Canadian technical death metal group managed to find a sweet spot between their brand of ‘organized chaos’ and memorable grooves, and it was an incredibly potent combination. An Insatiable Violence has massive shoes to fill, not even considering their legendary back catalog, and still manages to up the ante for the band as it takes unbridled speed and a ‘ready to fall apart at any moment’ sonic maelstrom and merges it with an astonishing amount of groove and melody.
The Cryptopsy brand has always centered around jostling and disorienting the listener with unhinged brutality and utter pandemonium. The Flo Mounier-driven battering ram opening to early single “Until There’s Nothing Left” and riff blitzkrieg should quickly disarm the listener with it’s overwhelming tempo and musicianship. But then, the band slowly decelerates into a violent groove. What is lost in speed is gained in oddly hook-infested yet visceral grooves, and from there it ping-pongs between the two extremes. Mounier’s furious drumming is at it’s best (and most blistering) on “Fools Last Acclaim,” where he demands full attention as he perpetually changes things up in astonishing fashion. Christian Donaldson’s frenzied riffing on songs like “The Art of Emptiness” is just as compelling as it’s pulverizing groove sections which all but induce a headbang. The towering melodies entwined within “Our Great Deception” give it an epic slant that still remains when the group turns the tempo to full tilt. Then there’s the mammoth groove section that ends the song, which is all but sure to induce a pit in the live setting.
There’s not a weak track in the bunch, and as with some previous releases, it benefits from a short runtime. 8 tracks and around 30 minutes ensures that Cryptopsy can blast and groove as hard as they need without fear of sticking around for too long. Speaking of groove, final track “Malicious Needs” ends the album on a more subdued note, in that it operates more in groove than in insane speeds at it’s onset and puts them in the forefront even if they do ramp up the intensity at times (it wouldn’t be Cryptopsy if they didn’t). The ominous melodies that close the album truly end things on a high note. On one final note, vocalist Matt McGachy continues to up his arsenal. The sheer diversity in screams, roars, and everything in between helps to make an already furious track like “Dead Eyes Replete” even more intense, adding to the intensity. The cherry on top is a special guest appearance on “Embrace the Nihility” from Mike DiSalvo, which makes for a nice vocal easter egg later in the song.
An Insatiable Violence is a dizzying and unsettling swirl of death metal chaos that is more memorable than it has any right to be. Devastating grooves, brooding melodies, and hyper blast tempos come together in a way that only Cryptopsy is able to harness properly. A fine example of how extreme metal can be tweaked in just the right ways to make an album that stays with you and holds your attention without compromising any of it’s sheer violence factor.