lista zespołów Death Doom Krypts Unending Degradation

If you are following the Death Metal underground just a tad bit, you probably have heard of Krypts recently. Under the wings of the now defunct Detest Records, a demo (initially self-released) and an EP had made quite the sensation and it was almost with no great surprise that Scott’s Dark Descent chose to sign the band for the release of their debut.

Hailing from Finland, the band plays old-school Death Metal heavily influenced by their former peers but laced with a doomy aura that somehow mirrors that of Desolate Shrine, another Dark Descent signature. Obviously both bands don’t exactly play the same music and while Krypts also insist on lead-laden atmospheres, the band’s riffing is more efficient than their fellow countrymen. To a certain extent, you may even think of Krypts as a catchier counterpart to Desolate Shrine. Tracks like Open the Crypt are perfect example of this and would the production be more “Florida-like”, you’d probably end up singing the chorus under the shower.

For people already acquainted with the band, it may seem to be a minor deception that a 7 tracks record (not counting the intro) would feature 3 previously released songs making it really just 4 new songs but considering that most of you either don’t have the Detest Records item or simply never heard of the band until now, it probably will go smoothly.

Despite all the good things already written in this review, I ought to voice some concerns even if only mine. First of all, don’t expect any kind of originality here. If it wouldn’t be for incisive riffing and their anthem-like choruses, Krypts would seem pretty dull and generic, an impression unfortunately reinforced by the too-murky production displayed in Unending Degradation. While I’m a sucker for anything under-produced, I find, as I read elsewhere, the production to be underwhelming. Even though all the instruments and vocals are nicely showcased, there seems to be some kind of “limiter” here that takes away some of the fun as if they tried too hard to sound “cryptical”. The sound that will come out of your speaker seems to be constrained under a great slab of stone, only echoing out from six feet below. It may sound exactly as if coming from… well… crypts… but in the end, it somehow wears down the impact of the tracks making them in the long run almost unremarkable. This is “saved” by good songwriting but you’d almost wish for a different expression of this.

All in all, this is a strong debut and anyone into OSDM these days ought to check it out but I think this also leaves room for progression. I’m also a bit concerned as to how their sophomore really will sound like and probably expectations were a bit too high regarding how the band was hailed within the underground until this release. It is good, sometimes even very good but not as crushing as I wanted it to be. Time will tell.