Cryptic Brood - "Brain Eater" (Xtreem Music, 2017)

Band: Cryptic Brood
Title: Brain Eater
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
Year: 1st March 2017
Time: 35 min
Rating: 78/100













Cryptic Brood, 3 putrid fanatics from Wolfsburg (Germany), are a very promising death metal band born in 2013 and discovered in 2015 by the known Spanish label Xtreem Music (managed by none other can Dave Rotten from Avulsed!) after a demo and a split in collaboration with Graveyard Ghoul. The first seed of this alliance of Cryptic Brood with the aforementioned label was the 2015 "Wormhead" EP, useful to these 3 guys to take their very first European tour playing also in Italy. Now, Cryptic Brood have wanted to capitalize all their efforts into their fantastic debut album "Brain Eater", released recently obviously via Xtreem Music with its mastering made by the same Dave Rotten while its splendidly blood-soaked cover artwork was given to the wise hands of the US artist Joe "Ravager" Romero. And let me say that "Brain Eater" keep completely what that it promises through its cover artwork and title!

Autopsy...this is the very first band that I hear after listening to the ultra-gory first notes of the opening track "A Box Full of Bones". In fact, the music of Cryptic Brood is a very filthy, repellent and disgusting death/doom metal, and it isn't a case if they dubs their sound as "Rotten Metal of Death"! The noxious and incredibly heavy atmosphere recreated by the band is increased by some features like the triple vocals (oh yesss, every member of Cryptic Brood sings!) made of ultra-guttural growls and tortured screams so to create also some very agonizing verbal crossfires; and by the chainsaw guitar of Michael Lehner, a man which rejects completely every kind of guitar solo but playing often very putrescent, chaotic and "crooked" riffs close to Hellhammer. The ultra-unpolished and dry production helps too to increase the incorruptible filthiness of the sound, and the first one has also the particular feature to has no effects or overdubs, only an horrid smell of inevitable death.

But the nice thing of the music of Cryptic Brood is that it isn't focused only on the aforementioned kind of atmosphere. In fact, the 9 (all new) songs of the album are very focused on a structure able to be enough unpredictable with the addition of incredibly abrupt tempo changes in a way strongly close to Autopsy. So, the various numbers ranges from bestial blasting explosions to slimy doom metal vortexes through frequent savage raids on headbanging thrash/punk moments. This is possible also thanks to a drummer like Steffen Brandes, very imaginative and inventive and I think that he represents the real point of force of Cryptic Brood.

The mentionable tracks are not few. Surely, the first one is "Urban Coffin", the longer song of the entire album considering its 5 minutes and 20 seconds circa of lenght but it's remarkable that its first 2 minutes and 50 seconds are totally instrumental featuring also some very catchy mid-tempos. What follows is "Corroded Remains", a number completely devoted to a doomish inferno from the start to the end. After this, there is "Maggot-Infested Flesh", one of my favorite numbers of the album due to its last 15 seconds of pure grinding fury able to pulverize the listeners after 2 minutes of total doom. Finally, the following "Ridden with Dementia" is one of the better examples about the aforementioned unpredictability of Cryptic Brood because it is so dynamic (and intense) to appear sometimes adorably chaotic.

At this point, I think I shown widely that Cryptic Brood will be adored by every fanatic that lives on bread and bands like Autopsy, Asphyx, Anatomia plus a noxious drop of Hellhammer. Now, you have to know that these German monsters have very recently printed their first t-shirts based on "Brain Eater" while their "Sleazy Filth" tour, that will touch various countries of (Eastern) Europe, is planned for June 2017. I hope Cryptic Brood will back here in Italy as soon as possible to play especially in my city, Rome Caput Mundi!

Tracklist:

1 - A Box Full of Bones
2 - Slurping Reeking Slime
3 - Urban Coffin
4 - Corroded Remains
5 - Maggot-Infested Flesh
6 - Ridden with Dementia
7 - Gorging Severed Pieces
8 - Brain Eater
9 - Until It Starts to Rot

Line-up:

Steffen Brandes - vocals/drums
Dennis Butzke - vocals/bass
Michael Lehner - guitars/vocals

Homepage: http://www.crypticbrood.de/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/CrypticBrood
BandCamp: http://crypticbrood.bandcamp.com/
Xtreem Music: http://shop.xtreemmusic.com/english.main.index.php