The Unspoken King

The most hated album, which was released under the name of Cryptopsy, was created in even greater turbulence than those Canadians had before. Soon after the release of "Once Was Not", the second guitarist Christian Donaldson came to the group, Lord Worm left the band again (this time allegedly for health reasons), and the Cryptopsy were joined by two people from an extremely different world for this band, i.e. vocalist Matt McGarchy from metalcore (?) 3 Mile Scream and keyboardist (??) Maggie Durand. As a result of all these controversial (as it will turn out - not unjustifiably) changes, in 2008 "The Unspoken King" was released - as most listeners say, a nail in the coffin for Cryptopsy after the departure of Worm.

In the three years between "Once Was Not" and "The Unspoken King", this band has changed in 2008 beyond recognition. Well, horror of horrors, they went into deathcore with metalcore inclusions in the All That Remains or Killswitch Engage type, and pushed everything technical to the background. Unfortunately, these drastic changes are a complete failure. Okay, while it's still instrumentally quite passable (because the blasting and technical inserts have not completely disappeared here), and you get used to breakdown/less death metal parts, the vocals make your ears bleed. Not only in the case that McGarchy excels at the most generic deathcore screams, but also - far too often - at clean (!), luscious vocals (like in "Bemoan The Martyr", "Contemplate Regicide", "Leach" or "The Plagued"). The second misunderstanding, although much smaller in comparison to the vocals, is the aforementioned keyboards that totally not fit to the Cryptopsy style. These were supposed to turn up the overall serious atmosphere, but in practice their participation comes down to boring mumbling under the rest of the instruments or softening those already embarrassing fragments with clean vocals. The production of "The Unspoken..." is not convincing either, too much compressed and with an artificially puffing snare drum (although Flo Mounier's style itself cannot be faulted). With all of this, only one question arises: what is defending on this album at all?

The conclusions are therefore clear and lucid. "The Unspoken King" should not be released under the Cryptopsy name. Okay, with a different name it could not be regarded as a revelation, but in that case it could be easily skipped and considered a studio experiment. Meanwhile, under the well-known name and bearing in mind their earlier cds, "The Unspoken..." seems spitting right in the face. Because these Canadians in a drastic different style did not present anything interesting or comparable to previous successes.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

In 2008, Cryptopsy released their first album after Lord Worm quit for good. This of course, will bring about some change to the band stylistically. Did they go way too far? Short answer, YES. In many respects. Most people tend to regard the album is being "Deathcore" or "Technical Deathcore" so I'll compare it as such to their other albums. If you were to judge this album from an outsider perspective (not being an established Cryptopsy fan) you might think this is an interesting and a worthy listen. It screams a medieval theme, from the title, to all the song names, to the kingly vocal harmonies found in the latter half of the album. So its kind of a neat concept, but is it welcomed into Cryptopsy's discography? Not at all. People listen to Cryptopsy because they wanna hear some insanely brutal, 280bpm fast metal with vocals you can hardly understand. Flo Mournier is also one of the best metal drummers out there, using many different blast beat techniques, making up alot of what makes Cryptopsy a killer listen. This album deviates from that signature sound quite a bit, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that isn't not embraced as well as their previous works are.

The music itself is quite a departure from what Cryptopsy normally does. Blast beats and double bass at a significant speed normally make up probably 55-75 percent of the whole album. In this album its more like 35-40 percent. So what's in that large void then? Everything that Cryptopsy normally wouldn't do. Clean singing, groove drumming, vocal harmonies, piano parts, guitar riffs that sound like they really belong in alternative metal, weird sound effect tracks between songs (very cool, but out of place) and a myriad of other things.

The production is pretty standard, but clear. Whatever you'd expect from a deathcore band; clanky typewriter bass drums, heavily saturated guitar sounds that tend to have this weird phasing quality that makes it sound a little like you miked up the guitar cab with a paper towel roll thing attached to it, (I'm not trying to be harsh, that's just what it sounds like to me) bass is super trebly and quiet in the mix. So are the vocals. Speaking of those vocals, lets discuss those in more detail since that's what most of everyone is complaining about.

Finally, the vocals. EVERYONE that hates this album hates the vocals the most. Matt McGachy has a good voice for nice screams, but he can't growl worth crap. Imagine looking at a picture of a catfish after its been caught, and it has its mouth wide open. What kind of sound you think it would make if it could utter any words? Right, there you go. Its really not even a growl, just a weird lower fat, pudgy, scream really. Skip towards the end of the song "Bemoan The Martyr" before it ends, there's this part with lots of blast beats, right before it concludes with the clean singing part. This section reduces me to tears of laughter it sounds so comical. How were they not laughing at how stupid sounding the vocals are? His cleans are good for harmonies (found more on the latter half of the album). If executed right in tandem with the music, the vocals sound quite "kingly" for lack of a better word; the kind of music you'd expect to hear if a king is slayed in battle. ("Leach" has a great harmony bit in the middle somewhere) When he stresses his voice you get the annoying, angsty, grungy voice heard on the song, "Bemoan The Martyr". This might sound alright on some rock album you found at a CD store with a weird low-budget album cover, but here it seems kind of unrefined for a metal album.

I might vouch that this album's situation is very unique and suffers from an effect that could be coined the "The Unspoken King Effect", if you're the kind of person that likes discussing metal whilst pretending to be a scientist or something. It basically means an album likely would receive more praise and be appreciated more if it were simply released under a different band name and aimed at a different crowd. Most death metal fans have heard deathcore and typically don't like it. This album's release is like going to a restaurant to get steak and getting a steak that looks like steak, smells a little off but then tastes like fried chicken with hot wing sauce all over it. Believe it or not, someone will like it, but its not at all what you wanted nor what you like.

36 / 100

I delayed buying this album for a couple reasons. First, because I like the first two Cryptopsy albums best, and when Lord Worm returned for their 5th album, I figured it would be a triumphant return. However, “Once Was Not” was fairly mediocre, both vocally and musically. The second reason I delayed purchasing “Unspoken King” was because it received such widespread negative backlash, I figured it HAD to be bad. But I was wrong, as is most every other reviewer on this page. So wrong in fact that I felt compelled to write my first, and only, review for metal-archives.

The description for this album says “the band instead perform deathcore on this album”. I find this to be an interesting opinion. I am fortunate enough to be ignorant as to what exactly defines “deathcore”. Is it because there is a small amount of clean singing on this album? Is it because there are some start-stop riffs? Is it because there are some faint keyboards? Does any of this automatically make Cryptopsy a “deathcore” band?

I don’t know, and I really don’t care. Because aside from these minimal “new elements” (or "drawbacks", if you will) in their music, the rest of the album is Cryptopsy the way you would have expected them to play and sound at that point in their career. Face it, they’re not going back to the writing style of their first two albums. I agree, the clean singing is out of place and does not belong in this band. While I don’t fault any band for wanting to expand their horizons and try something different, the clean vocals in this case just don’t cut it and are simply out of that sort of “comfort zone” for this listener for this band.

But while I can agree on that point, it must be understood that clean vocals account for a very small percentage on this album. And yeah, I could have done without the start-stop riffs too. And keyboards? The worst part about them is the fact that they attempted to introduce a sixth member of the band. (You could consider the band photo the third reason why I delayed purchasing the album. Sorry, I just don't get bands that have more than 5 members. My Dying Bride excepted...). Fortunately the keyboards are practically unnoticeable.

Overall, these drawbacks are small enough to overlook and appreciate the rest of the album for what it is: your typical millennium-era Cryptopsy. If this album is what you call “deathcore”, then you might as well label most of their catalog as “deathcore”. Because, musically speaking, “The Unspoken King” is not that far off from anything they’ve done since “None So Vile”.

“The Unspoken King” is certainly not their best, but it’s still a good listen, and a worthwhile purchase for true fans that know, understand, and enjoy the band’s back catalog, or for those extreme metal fans that have an open mind and who are able to run with their gut instincts rather than be turned off by that wretched label of “deathcore” assigned to by others.

"The Unspoken King" must hold the record for the most maligned and loathed album ever created by a death metal band. Even after "Illud Divinum Insanus" by Morbid Angel came out, which is definitely a sorry excuse for an album, this album is still spoken of with much discontent. After releasing the band's final album with on-and-off vocalist Lord Worm entitled "Once Was Not" in 2005, the Canadian death metallers would return in 2008 with this controversial affair. "The Unspoken King" is Cryptopsy's sixth full-length studio album and definitely their most different effort.

Instead of opting for their traditional death metal sound driven by technicality, the dudes decided to move into a more metalcore-influenced take on death metal. Because of this, "The Unspoken King" can definitely be described as a deathcore album. Now, contrary to what my numerous deathcore album reviews may suggest, I prefer actual death metal to deathcore. Although I still enjoy deathcore quite a bit if it's done well. "The Unspoken King" is actually a very well-executed deathcore album. The main issue I believe most people have with this CD is the fact Cryptopsy put it out. Compared to classics like "None So Vile" and "Whisper Supremacy", this album is a sharp left turn. It contains numerous elements that were not present in the band's prior efforts, nor their self-titled album from 2012, which was a return to form.

Matt McGachy assumed vocal duties on this release. This was his first album with the band. He is certainly very different than the famed Lord Worm or Mike DiSalvo in terms of both the sound and execution of his vocals. He seems to rely more on the inhale technique, which is a commonality in deathcore. He also even uses metalcore-esque clean vocals at times, in tracks such as "Bemoan the Martyr", "Leach", and "The Plagued". Because of this, his performance is highly controversial and many times dismissed as shitty. He has been described as "emo" by a lot of folks but personally, I disagree. I don't think he is an amazing vocalist and his performance here is subpar in comparison to what he would do with the band's following self-titled album, where he would drop all clean vocals. Hell, his cleans are average at best, but not bad. I strongly believe if he was to leave this style with 3 Mile Scream and not move it into Cryptopsy, he would have gotten more praise.

Guitar wise, this album is fairly stripped down and simplistic in comparison to the band's prior releases. There are of course deathcore-styled breakdowns and chugs, but really, death metal has always contained these elements, so it's really not TOO out of place. The main difference here is simply how, well... simple the riffs generally are. Cryptopsy went from playing extremely technical sounding stuff to something more accessible and as I said before, stripped down. There still is some technicality in here, mainly within the solos, but they're still offered in a lesser quantity this time around, and don't last as long. The solo in "Leach" is probably the most impressive out of the lot, although for me, it rivals "Resurgence of an Empire" for the top spot. Sure, this album would have benefited from more solos, but really, what's on here already gets the job done just fine.

So, what was that I said about accessibility earlier? Oh, yes. This album is definitely an easier listen than their prior releases. McGachy was not the only new addition on this record. We also got Maggie Durand, who provides keyboards. Yep, you heard me right. Keyboards. This adds even more melody and "easy listening" sections to the album. She's fairly absent, however. She does appear every once in a while but thankfully, her performances are scarce and she doesn't overtake the music. She has sections in songs like "Leach", "Resurgence of an Empire", "Silence the Tyrants", and "Contemplate Regicide". Even so, she is still rarely audible. I can't really complain about her performance as it really wasn't too obvious or distracting, and when she was audible, she sounded fairly good. In my opinion, anyway.

The drumming here doesn't really vary from anything else Cryptopsy has done. There are still a ton of death metal blast beats, double bass sections, and furious, technical speed. I've seen reviews saying he sounds "uninspired" but I really can't agree, as he sounds just as good as he always has. Maybe I'm an idiot and can't hear it, but oh well.

So really, this album is fairly good for a deathcore release. It contains a vast, interesting mix of melody, ferocity, technically, and groove. I can see how long-time Cryptopsy fans would be alienated by this album. I personally got into them after this album came out anyway, but started with "None So Vile" and "Blasphemy Made Flesh" around the same time, so I already knew what the band was about before hearing this. Even after hearing the band's prior albums first, I still dig this one quite a bit. It stands out from all of their other albums. I'd mainly recommend this to a fan of deathcore that is interested in getting into death metal, or any open minded death metal fans who aren't afraid of their favorite bands experimenting a bit.

Positive press and negative mudslinging are more alike than one would ever think. While the former would attract and the latter would repel, consider the notion of both being parallel paths towards personal curiosity. Consistent glad-handing would cause someone to partake in that which is put on so high a pedestal, but for some folk (this reviewer included), being universally shat on would make us cock our heads to the side and wonder "It can't be THAT bad! Could it? Let's find out..." This has lead to exposure to some of the most reprehensible albums the metal community has deemed unfit to wear their spiked wristbands. "Roots", "Supercharger", "St. Anger", "Illud Divinum Insanus"...all discounted as crap beyond crap given the pedigree of their parent bands from one and all.

And among those is, as well, this; the supposed "9/11 of death metal"...

I'll start off by saying I'm by no means a Cryptopsy fan. Their earlier albums had a few things going for them, and the whole tech-death metal thing is fine in and of itself, but they just didn't wholly interest me or draw me in. In fact, so out of the loop was I that the release and subsequent denouncement of "The Unspoken King" was the first time I'd seen/heard/thought of their name in a long while. Life's funny that way. But what I'd said earlier about negative press sparking curiosity is what drew me to this apparent collective of failure and, promising my soul to the All Father should I not survive the ordeal, I dove in. And to be honest? It's bad, but I don't think it's as bad as other folks say it is. To be fair, I know that if you compare this to the likes of "Blasphemy Made Flesh" and "Whisper Supremacy", this can be seen as a transparent cash-in to the deathcore scene. That's something I won't deny. This whole album DRIPS of core kid propaganda through and through, and the worst offenders are the ones that are the most noticed. The cupped-mic, bizarre vocal approach and overtly antagonistic lyrics are as far removed from traditional death metal as one could get (thought thankfully not shooting for pig squealing nonsense). Likewise with the completely unnecessary keyboardist. Truly, Maggie Durand isn't so much a waste of talent as she is just a waste of space and a one-time seat on the tour bus considering the utter lack of distinguishable synth lines all throughout the record. It's as though the 'topsy boys noticed the skinny-jeaned hordes clamoring at Kristin Randall and Ashley Ellyon and figured "if it works for Winds of Plague, it could work for us!" But it DOESN'T. What few synth lines ARE heard through the morass of instrumentation don't do anything to augment the overall product. She's just there for the sake of being there, it seems. Eye candy. Nothing more. You can tell just how important Ms Durand was to the group considering she didn't even last a year before her ouster. Maybe they figured it was a failed experiment? I couldn't tell you.

Yet for all the shortcomings I've been shedding light upon, it's within the sum of its better aspects that it doesn't complete cave in on itself with its misguided ambitions. The biggest success story here is easily the drumming. Flo Mournier once again astounds with his mastery of the kit, performing high speed rolls and blasts that I swear are damn-near impossible to undertake by a human hand. The man's a human drum machine, that's for sure. And as far as the general songwriting goes, this is not NEARLY as asinine or weak-kneed as it's made out to be. Yes, there's a serious lack of legit tech-death riffing, the complicated, nearly inhuman nature which older Cryptopsy albums excelled at, and things are much more simplified than before, but the riffing and harmonic guitar leads, as they are, are still rather interesting in their own little way, far more intense than your average breakdowners and offering more in the way of creative ideas and rapid-fire time signature changes (if fewer than before). And above all else? Not nearly as many breakdowns! Some are there, sure, as is commonplace within this style, but not quite as overt as many of their one-time contemporaries. Truly, if put up against the likes of Emmure, With Blood Comes Cleansing or (...*shudder*...) Oceano, there's really more to this unspoken king than meets the eye. This is coming from as open a set of ears as possible, believe you me. And of course, let's not forget their "response" track of "It's Dinner Time", a fun, creative way of turning their detractors on their heads and made not long after all the shit was thrown at them. Not a bad way to go, really.

As the end of the day, "The Unspoken King" is a serious misfire, that's for sure, and a god-damn mess at worst, but I don't feel it's one of the worst albums ever made. Cryptopsy's worst? Definitely. But take it for what it is rather than what you think it should be and it may tickle your fancy in more ways than you'd think. Proceed with caution and an open mind.

It doesn't at all surprise me that The Unspoken King has received the tidal wave of negative reactions that it has; what DOES throw me for a loop is how a lot of these people act as if it's their first shitty album. Not the case, if we glimpse back to the turn of the century, and also not the case that the band hadn't been struggling to define a direction for itself for the decade prior to this album's release. So, this is the infamous 'deathcore' record, yet Cryptopsy had been incorporating ingredients of that aesthetic bastardization as far back as the later 90s. Not news, even if The Unspoken King streamlined the techniques in terms of structure and studio engineering to position itself better in the theater of warfare with up and comers like Job for a Cowboy or Whitechapel.

This, in of itself, this stylistic choice, does not bother me. The trending and timing is suspect, but a cursory listen through the previous material will reveal influences of metalcore, math metal, sludge, and just about any other 'hot topic' on the extreme music scene of the Western world. And let's be honest: a sizable portion of the band's audience consisted of hardcore and metalcore fans since the 90s, when they first got wind of a record like None So Vile or Whisper Supremacy (around the time of the Century Media signing) and got off on the raving guttural vocals and the technical lunacy of the performance. While purely anecdotal evidence, I, myself, living in one of the USA's most massive and trendsetting metalcore markets, heard a lot more about Cryptopsy from the 'core kids than the bedraggled death metal minority. So it makes a lot of sense that the band's audience would itself rub off on the band, as it always had, and create a feedback loop through the years. The problem is that prior works like Once Was Not took this into an experimental direction, where The Unspoken King is a brickwalled billboard for its cliches, a Bleeding Through with a higher level of technicality and musical endorsement, and less novice chord progressions and glaringly generic melodies.

The Unspoken King isn't a bad record because it forges a truce between Cryptopsy's spurious, furious history and deathcore's tattooed, stretch-lobed, emo-haired breakdowns. It's a bad record because the songwriting is uniformly soulless and uninteresting. To be certain, this is not an effort short on variation; I'd go so far to say that there's just as much diversity on this as Once Was Not, only playing by a separate set of rules. You've got your mechanical drumming-fueled brutal death metal undertone, climaxing into some of the most banal and boring chug breakdowns you've ever heard. Glints of post-hardcore and modern heavy radio rock are strewn through the more intense passages, and they definitely make every effort to showcase the 'sensitive side' of their new vocalist. If all of this were dowsed in superb riff-writing, atmosphere and really catchy vocal lines, then I'd be the first to forgive these cheap shots of accessibility, but unfortunately these ideas simply don't gel into anything worth remembering. In their attempt to escape the 'weirdness' of the previous, Lord Worm fronted album, they've gone too far to the other side, losing all distinction.

It doesn't help that two of the newer band members, whether by their own lack of talent or poor decisions on the part of the veterans, turn in such atrocious performances here. Vocalist Matt McGachy was pretty much a 'package deal' of mediocrity. He's not necessarily tuneless or incompetent at the contrasting styles and pitches he brings to the table, but each feels wholly mundane and uninteresting. Not as goofy as Mike DiSalvo on And Then You'll Beg, but no more charming either. He's got a pretty standard guttural bark, a deeper guttural for 'da sickness', a rasp that's more suited to the grind influenced grooves and rhythms, and the requisite clean parts for those 'radio hooks' redolent of NWOAHM bands like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, and All That Remains. Safe for mommy, or your little sister. While none of his harsher inflections is particularly effective, the melodic vocals are almost unbearable in the context of Cryptopsy; ranging from a Puddle of Mudd/Linkin Park inflection to a silkier attempt at pulling off some Mike Patton worship, which simply sounds out of place on this record. Probably the worst offender here is the song "Bound Dead", which transforms into vapid power chord strumming that carries his voice into very obvious 'we wanna be liked by people who would otherwise hate us' territory; but this is not the sole transgressor.

Even worse, the 'keyboardist' Maggie Durand. I'm not averse to Cryptopsy using synthesizers, as they made for an interesting orchestral excursion on the prior album, and I have no problem with synthesizers in general if they're adding atmosphere to the music. But these are utter shit throughout the whole record! It's very difficult to think of her as anything more than 'window dressing', as in the aforementioned shit act Bleeding Through. There's nothing wrong with a little eye candy, but for whatever reason she either really sucks at playing the keys, or the band is painfully underusing her here. At best she'll be delivering well below the volume of the other instruments, some single note atmospheric pad or sampled texture. Or the band will throw in a bit of a techno electronic substrate into a brief passage, but all of it is incredibly useless. The music would have lost nothing without it. If keys were not going to be made a prominent feature of the band, then I see no reason to even add a band member, and thus the pretty glaring evidence of 'sex appeal'. They can be used subtly to great effect (Soilwork's Natural Born Chaos), but here they are nearly 100% arbitrary. For all I know, Durand is a virtuoso on the piano, but Cryptopsy doesn't want me to find out...

Otherwise, who cares? Flo Mounier drums with the personality of one of those programmable vacuum robots that are all the rage with lazy housewives and househusbands. Sleek, professional, polished to a flaw. Yeah, maybe he sounds more level than on other records where his fills and performance had a lot more charisma, but this is no more or less than any modern brutal/tech record you'll find out there. I'm sure the bass playing is also keeping busy here, but it too feels like it's on a valium drip. Langlois' farting, popping presence on past records is here just another forgettable undertow to the machine-like composition. At the very best, Alex Auburn and Christian Donaldson will tear into some semi-decent death/thrash break for all too brief a time, or dial into the old school death metal that once inspired Cryptopsy in the 90s. For instance, my favorite moment on the entire record is the tremolo picked, evil sequence coming after the breakdown in "The Headsman" at around 3:20, where the airiness of the thin keys actually works, and the passionate lead capitalizes on the rhythm guitar, but they even go and fuck that up with the ensuing, boring nu-metal groove chords that make me wanna sprout dreadlocks and appear on a Crow sequel soundtrack.

Pretty much the only aspects of The Unspoken King which don't disappoint are: a) the cover artwork by Jeik Dion, which is quite atmospheric and by that token has nothing whatsoever to do with the music; and b) the lead guitars, in general well composed and gleaming far above and beyond the vocals or rhythm sections. The lyrics are a mixed bag. Nowhere near as unhinged or compelling as the Lord Worm records, some are at least intelligent and meaningful (vague, personal or sociopolitical, and very 'deathcore'). But others are pretty shitty reads here, like "The Plagued", or "Bound Dead" which is so generic and emo that I had to slap myself a few times to realize I wasn't listening to Mutiny Within or All That Remains. Beyond that, The Unspoken King seems like quite a lot of effort expended into a product that I can't imagine anyone wanting. Did deathcore/metalcore fashionistas really want a brutal band of older Canadians jumping the bandwagon? I feel for certain that most death metal purists had no interest. There are a few moments in which the album reveals what it 'might have been' had the members' had their heads on straight, but really it's just a waste of everyone's time. Yours, mine, and the poor record store employees that had to expend an iota of effort unpacking and shelving the CD.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The Unspoken King is the most maligned in Cryptopsy's extensive discography for the simple fact that it was Cryptopsy tapping into the trends of the day, and this is not rightfully so at all. The Unspoken King is not a complete sellout release that should never have been made, but simply the band doing what they needed to do so badly-change. And Then You'll Beg and Once Was Not had already proven the band was not invincible, and that there were many chinks in the armor they had worn so proudly with classics such as None So Vile. Lord Worm was out of the picture, having quit after Once Was Not, and the band now had new vocalist Matt McGachy and keyboardist Maggie Durand on the team. The result was The Unspoken King, a great release.

Album opener Worship Your Demons immediately displays that Cryptopsy have lost none of the edge that albums such as None So Vile had, with its ultra technical guitar work that is up there with the best, and the vocal work is breathtaking. For those Lord Worm fan boys out there, listen to this song to be convinced that Matt has every bit of the power Lord Worm had behind his vocals. He can do both ultra low growls and manic insane screams. This album also contains some great clean vocals delivered by Matt, with Leach having a soaring chorus, and The Plagued opening with some beautiful vocal work, that reminds me of Dream Theater a little in the notes he hits.

The guitar work to this album is every bit as technical as past efforts with the addition of solos that actually sound decent, instead of the random sweep picking found on previous releases. Leach and Silence The Tyrants are the best evidence of this. The riffs are as crazily fast and hard to play as fans have come to expect, as The Headsman and The Plagued will show. The Headsman has some crazy lead playing, and The Plagued is just a lesson in how to play ridiculously fast and still sound nearly perfect. The drumming is also top notch, with Flo having ditched none of his crazily speedy blast beats, giving this album a real feel of intensity that was missing from every album they have done since None So Vile. His patterns are supremely complex, with some of the most insane fills in metal.

The real down side to this album is the use of the keyboards, which take away much of the real heaviness of the album with the stupid messing around on keyboard. They are not well played by Maggie, and nor do they feel at home on the songs they are found on, in particular feeling disjointed on Anoint The Dead and Resurgence Of An Empire. Also, the death core elements found throughout this album are extremely annoying, with the introduction of Resurgence Of An Empire and the chugging open string breakdowns found all through the album being the obvious examples. These really do reduce this band at times to being no heavier than bands like Job For A Cowboy, who have a fake heaviness. These mainstream sellout elements really detract from this album a lot.

This is a mixed bag album, but I really enjoy it and recommend it to everyone with an open mind. If you are a Cryptopsy fan and want a new side of the band, then this is definitely for you.

Originally written for Sputnik Music.

Far be it from me to knowingly make waves, but I have to go against the grain on this one. For years, Cryptopsy has been held in high regard, hailed by many as titans of the death metal underground. However, in the last couple of years this band has seen its previously loyal fan base turn on them, spewing allegations of selling out and joining the sea of medio-core bands we find ourselves drowning in. Precisely when Cryptopsy lost their edge is still debated, but the vast majority of fingers are pointed at their most recent effort, The Unspoken King. With crisp, clean production, the addition of a new vocalist and an admittedly useless (though not unattractive) keyboardist, and more melodic, accessible songs, it cannot be denied that this album is completely different than anything this band has done before. Unfortunately, many people didn't consider this a good thing.

The trepidation felt by many for this album is understandable; after all, it's a complete 180-degree turn from everything we've come to know and expect. Early Cryptopsy sounds raw, grating and generally just nasty, whereas the production value for The Unspoken King... well, exists. Also, Matt McGachy's vocals are noticeably more high-pitched than Lord Worm's or Mike DiSalvo's, and when he goes too high they start to sound somewhat irritating. He even implements clean singing into some songs, which caught me just as off guard as anyone else. But what really pushed everyone over the edge was that Cryptopsy had the nerve to start playing "breakdowns". I use quotation marks because there's really only one actual breakdown on the whole CD, during "Silence the Tyrants". The problem is, the so-called "loyal" fans (i.e. myopic elitists with serious cases of tunnel vision) got so freaked out by it that every time the guitarist played an open E string they reflexively shouted "That's a breakdown, this band sucks!"

I, on the other hand, actually listened to this album for what it is, and didn't allow the previous albums to factor into my evaluation. I figured if the band is trying to experiment and reinvent themselves, why should the old material that they're trying to branch away from be used as a basis of comparison? By doing so I decided that while this may be a new Cryptopsy, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad Cryptopsy. Although, before you get too worried, rest assured that they haven't completely forgotten themselves. The cleaner production value finally gives the guitar room to breathe, allowing Christian Donaldson's impressive fretwork to shine through. Also, Flo Mounier's signature lightning speed drumming is still there in spades, particularly on songs such as "Worship Your Demons", "The Headsmen" and "Anoint the Dead".

Another benefit of The Unspoken King is that, while some songs might be more forgettable than others, this album doesn't bleed into itself after the first few tracks like so many others do. From the spastic, stop-go time signature changes of "Worship Your Demons" to the head-bobbing groove of "Leach", every song has its own individual vibe, and it never feels like the same thing was played twice.

Simply put, it may not be what you're expecting, but if you're willing to open your mind a bit, The Unspoken King is worth the trouble. In closing I'll say this: if it turns out I missed the memo that my opinion is completely wrong and Cryptopsy are a legitimate deathcore band now, then as far as I'm concerned they're still among the elite in their genre, and it will be a long time before anyone eclipses them.

Album highlights:
"Worship Your Demons"
"The Headsmen"
"Leach"

A mistake, a failed attempt at creativity, a bitter disappointment, and a joke. These are all words and phrases that could be accurately used to describe Cryptopsy’s latest effort, The Unspoken King. A mistake because of what they did to their legacy. Prior to this release, Cryptopsy was one the most respected modern metal bands from Canada (Sure, they began to release some duds, but you obviously listen to None So Vile weekly). Now they have exchanged fan bases from metalheads to scene kids. A failed attempt at creativity because they have become clones of mainstream deathcore bands. A disappointment because I was a fan of everything Cryptopsy had put out in the past, now I’m even embarrassed to say that. A joke because, well, just listen to the music.

Cryptopsy used to be technical. Very technical. Now they have replaced that technicality for ‘core’ breakdowns, and generic ones at that. There is at least one in every song but usually several. Worship Your Demons introduces this formulaic pattern which ends up coming off as camedic. It’s definitely obvious where Cryptopsy drew inspiration from for this album and even more obvious where they didn’t. Even though this album is nothing new, they still managed to be very boring and excruciatingly unoriginal. You’d think copying successful bands would result in success, apparently not (I hear the record label send it out free along with orders from their website, or at least used to, that's how much it sucks). All songs except for two are over four minutes. If they were all around three, it would take away from the boredom but this is just another mistake these idiots made. Most songs are around the same length because they follow an identical and predictable formula of deathcore you've heard a hundred times before. Boring and shitty. One exception is the six and a half minute song, Bound Dead, which is also among the worst. It’s a chore to sit through the whole thing, they were obviously trying to ‘break new boundaries’ by making a lengthy song, but once again failed.

I must say I was expecting their worst album when I heard Lord Worm left again, but I wasn’t expecting this, nor was I prepared. I don’t think anyone was. It was obvious the sound was going to be different with the addition of several new members and the departure of others. Really though, all they had to do was copy old Cryptopsy albums. Sure, it may have been a bit boring, but nothing like this. McGarthy’s vocals are what really drive this album into the shitter. Of course it’s hard to find a replacement for Lord Worm, but they couldn’t have done much worse than this pre-teen. Surprisingly, he probably looks the most metal because most other members have got clean haircuts and look like butch lesbians. When The Plague opened with his emo singing I was actually expecting a voice crack. Too bad. I swear I’ve heard that melody in a Linkin Park song though. His growls are just low and high pitched pig squeals in the vein of Job For A Cowboy or (insert whatever deathcore band you feel like). At least he doesn’t have a hilarious, nicely kept, scene haircut like most of the members do now. Apparently there was also a chick in the band at the time, but I literally don't think she recorded on the album, I'm not hearing any keyboards. She was probably just banging McGarthy at the time and asked to be in the photoshoot. Mr. Worm must be laughing his pants off about how his band couldn’t survive without him. Now I’m just praying for him to show them up with a new project. Probably wishful thinking, at his age.

I couldn’t bring myself to give this album 0%. There are moments in the opening song where if one wasn’t paying attention, they could mistake the breakdown for being technical, which it isn’t. Also, if you can ignore McGarthy for a second, it’s apparent that the musicians are still capable of playing their instruments to some degree of skill.

This is the death of Cryptopsy. Even if they managed to return to the roots on the next album (you know as well as I do that won't happen), this is unforgivable. Let’s just try to remember them for what they once were.

Among the many loaners I’ve received from friends who love metalcore more than I is this latest piece of work, which has done little to sway my opinion about their favorite metal sub-genre. I am not what you would call well schooled in the way of Cryptopsy, nor am I even familiar with their previous works, which may explain why I don’t find this quite as revolting as most do. I can assume by the year of their origin that their early works probably sound nothing like this, so the chorus of detractors seems justified. But while I think there are a few positive elements at work on here, the general consensus of the majority is definitely onto something in regards to this album, and that is that it is basically a disjointed, directionless, and very much troubled mishmash of bad metal styles and poor songwriting.

As best as I can figure, these guys were trying to emulate just about every current sensation from Job for a Cowboy and Atreyu, to some more respectable outfits such as Into Eternity. Obviously the latter of these influences demands clean vocals, though the hack that Flo has recruited isn’t fit to lick Stu Block’s boots when it comes to screams or clean singing. There isn’t any harmonization or anything that remotely resembles a chorus/refrain section, and most of the clean vocals are placed at such random intervals that questions as to why the band bothered with them become inevitable. The music occasionally shows some signs of organization here and there, but for the most part it’s the same random, fragmented riffing and over-indulgent drum fill wankery that makes JFAC’s discography exquisite beer coaster material.

The principle positive element at work here is the guitar soloing and the bass work. Although most of the guitar solos are relatively short and reserved in comparison to what normally appears on a technical death metal album, they avoid the pointless 8 second note filler sound of JFAC and actually stick in your head. Granted, many of the solo sections are surrounded by 3 or 4 minutes of incredibly terrible sounding deathcore noise or groove metal riffs. Likewise, bassist Eric Langlois has an incredible bass tone and some interesting bass breaks in several songs. Most of the time his standout parts are surrounded by pointless background sounds, but they still come through and bring some enjoyment to an otherwise useless set of poorly placed interludes.

As far as the individual works go, picking a worst song can prove to be a bit difficult, as there is a healthy variety of terrible ideas guising as songs. “Worship your demons” takes the cake for being the lamest and most derivative deathcore song I’ve probably heard so far, and might qualify as a b-side to the “Doom” EP that I hope never crosses my ears again. It’s all jumbled, 2 second long riff fragments loaded with drum sounds that refuse to be coherent, manifesting in a sub-3 minute fit of tonal diarrhea. “Bemoan the martyr” and “The Plagued” are the worst of the clean vocal songs, sounding half JPAC and half Bullet for my Valentine. The clean vocals parrot the same tendencies of the rest of the music and don’t have any structure or symmetry unless you take into account that the whole section is repeated once or twice later on. The resulting melody, and I use the term extremely loosely here, has no memory grabbing elements, it’s just there and then it’s gone just as soon as the random harshness takes over. Most of the rest of the music on here, with a couple of exceptions, follow one of these two models, though incorporating guitar solos and fun bass interludes to lighten the blow a little.

Now there are naturally a couple of songs on here that succeed in not being terrible and even sound good at times, but the problem is that they’re so derivative that you mistake them for outtakes from Into Eternity’s “The Scattering of Ashes”. The most consistent of said fellow Canadian modern death metal genre benders’ knockoff songs is “Leach”, which mostly avoids the disorganized chaos of the deathcore metal sub-species and sounds like an actual song. The guitar solo, which sounds pretty similar to Tim Roth’s style of methodical string sweeping (as most on here do), is the best one on here as well as the longest. “The Plagued” isn’t quite as consistent and goes in and out of deathcore sections and more enjoyable melodic death moments, but most of it listens like consistent Into Eternity worship, complete with a less competent than the latter’s vocal harmonization which probably can’t be recreated live. The real tragedy about this song is that they start out with a great intro riff and then never bring it back, resulting in the first minute and a half being sheer classic death metal ownage followed by a mixture of half assed metalcore bullshit and some semi-solid ideas.

Although far from a pleasant listen, this album and the resulting online media circus that has followed has given me a new perspective on the deathcore genre and why it needs to die quickly. Essentially deathcore is the newly born tyranny of the Prima donna drummer, typified perfectly by the metalcore image and inferiority complex ridden attitude of formerly respectable kit man Flo Mounier. Every single album in this fucking genre is loaded with pointless blast beat and drum fill showboating that make Mastodon’s drummer sound like Phil Rudd. These bands might as well not have guitarists and bassists at all considering how high the vocals and drums tend to be in the mix and how their parts rob said instruments of any prominence. Metal music is a guitar riff oriented style of music, I don’t care what sub-genre you play in, which rightly justifies any questions as to whether this music even qualifies as metal since riffs take the back seat to lung spewing gibberish and throwing a thousand notes or drum hits into every minute of sound space.

Ultimately the two things lacking on here are an individual identity and quality songwriting, and all of the chops and fancy drum acrobatics any virtuoso can dish out do not come close to replacing those essential elements of a good album. Don’t spend money on this or you’ll encourage it to continue, like subsidizing clean needles for heroine users increasing the lifespan of people who see no real point in living. Feel free to make fun of people who like this garbage also if it floats your boat, although ignoring it is the better approach as most of the scene types who like this stuff thrive on social cues rather than self-actualization and will likely not brag about it in your presence.

The Unspoken King is an affront to the Canadian music scene, death metal, and music in general. There, now you know my thoughts on this album. I wish I could leave it at that but for your enjoyment and my own love of getting paid/masochism, I’ll review the whole thing.

A multitude of problems plague The Unspoken King and each deserves it’s own angry rant; starting with the vocals of Matt MaGachy. If you’re familiar with his previous band 3 Mile Scream you’ll be just as confused as I am why Cryptopsy even considered adding him to the line up. His screams alternate between high pitched pig squeals and very forced low… well, pig squeals. However, all of that is tolerable compared to the complete shit show MaGachy calls singing. Not since the heyday of nu-metal has such a whiny and a half step off voice been heard, and let me reiterate; it’s fucking awful. There are far too many examples of this angsty, off-key singing on The Unspoken King, however the absolute worst is towards the beginning of “Bemoan the Martyr”. If you don’t want to murder the man’s family after hearing that, congrats, you’re deaf.

The music itself is very hit or miss. Cryptopsy has always had a penchant for spastic, unorthodox rhythms and The Unspoken King fails miserably in this tradition. With the departure of lead songwriter and guitarist Jon Levasseur, much of the charm that made this band so intriguing and unique was sure to leave, but I wasn’t expecting the melodic leads and breakdown-esque riffs that are being chugged out by scene kids the world round. Occasionally there will be glimpses of former glory (like the solo in “Leach”), however the remaining 98% or so of The Unspoken King will have you scrambling for the stop button on your iPod.

Flo Mounier’s drums sound as uninspired as Lars during St. Anger takes. The constant stop-start blasting has yet to progress from anything more than headache inducing and on top of the soulless guitar wanking that plagues most of the riffs on the album, it’s enough to cause even the sanest among us to develop itches under the wrist. The album’s production might be it’s only real saving grace, the instruments all come across very clearly. However, this is a double edged sword as you can now hear note for note why this album is cancerous.

As I listen to The Unspoken King I can’t help but chuckle at how obvious it should have been that this disastrous shift in sound was on its way. With the departure of vocalist Lord Worm and the aforementioned songsmith Levasseur things were not looking up for the band. However it was the addition of female synth player Maggie Durand and 3 Mile Scream vocalist Matt MaGachy that nailed the coffin shut. Seriously, they added a synth player. She plays for a total of roughly 20 seconds on the whole album, yet they have her upfront for most of the marketing photos. Does anyone else realize just how much Cryptopsy is selling out? They change their logo from the demon to a less menacing ‘dragon’, add a “hot” goth chick keyboardist, and request that the new vocalist have a clean singing voice as well as screaming; that ladies and gentlemen, is pathetic. Everyone should boycott this album as vengeance for the destruction of a once treasured icon of the extreme metal scene.

For the days after I caught this leak, I was unsure as to how to review it, I could A) review it normally, marking it in a truly strict sense, or B) cut off a few points and display my disgust in the band for creating this... abomination. Honestly, I had an overwhelming desire to, like a bored monkey, fling my verbal faeces at this band and mess up their nicely styled hairdos, thus putting them in their place. But really, there are a dozen reviews of that, so I figure there isn't any need for me to do this. I may as well review it properly. What a bore.

I guess my reasoning for this decision, along with it being a moot point by now, is that this band isn't Cryptopsy anymore. This is a band with 2 classic line up Cryptopsy members, and four people who are simply, not Cryptopsy. I guess it should be mentioned, that when you write a new album with a band of now 6 people, consisting of a mere three that have been in the band for longer than one album, it becomes hard to hold onto the identity of the band. And without Jon Levasseur, it seems as if the core of the Cryptopsy we've known of is now gone, leaving the poorly fitting Alex Auburn in control.

So, what is this replacement band like then? In short, they're a sub-par, marginally technical deathcore band with awkwardly implemented and horribly performed softer sections. Now, where people are getting confused as to what this band is like is that people tend to automatically decide that complaints about deathcore are from people who simply don't get it, and are for that reason just bashing the album for no reason other than it isn't what they are expecting. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest deathcore fan, but what people don’t understand is that this is terrible deathcore. This is deathcore that hurts the brain and poisons the soul. So, even when you don't factor in that Cryptopsy has gone so far downhill that they've entered a crevasse so deep that light cannot escape its dark clutches, The Unspoken King is still absolutely disgusting beyond the capabilities the average band.

So what makes this so bad, you ask? Honestly, its hard to single out just one reason. There has been a strong focus on the clean vocals more than anything else. But the problems run much deeper than those. I may as well start on vocals though. Every element of Matt McGachy's voice is terrible, but it is true that the cleans are quite exceptionally bad, easily his worst anti-asset. Its really quite surprising that he was accepted into the band, they even asked for singers with good voices and the ability to sing on key, rather than just any random guy who wants to give it a go, as if to say that the average metalcore voice is too crude...

And then they accepted this guy...

Hell, I'm pretty sure if you told Lord Worm to sing he'd probably luck a better performance than this, despite it being unlikely he has every uttered a noise that wasn't completely demented and aggressive in his entire life. My best comparison is that he sounds like the guy from Incubus just not as well delivered. When McGachy first sings on Bemoan the Martyr, there is an overwhelming compulsion to place your face in your hands. To be honest, his growls aren't too bad. Basically like a weaker version of the guy from The Faceless. The high screams however are pretty much awful. He doesn't want to scream like a hardcore kid, but he just can't do proper high screams. I guess he gets points for trying to emulate Worm on the sheer amount of variation of his voice, but then has them quickly and forcefully removed for performing them so poorly. After these points are removed, he is then slapped in the face for incessantly adding vocals to almost every second of this damn album.

So vocals, yeah, they hurt, but so do the guitars, which are in an almost never ending breakdown, and no, it isn't a good Cryptopsy breakdown, which is interesting, inventive, and adds personality to a song, its a very standard deathcore break down which has no personality or purpose. There are a few faster parts, but again, you pretty much get a selection of deathcore, and horrible deathcore, with odd piece of technical death metal thrown about, but you could count to occurrences on your hands. They are produced nicely, so they sound very good, but they're also extremely quiet. As if they knew what they were doing was wrong, and didn't want anybody to know, like a 15 year old boy tying to masturbate in the room adjacent to his sleeping parents. The riffs are generally fairly simple (for Cryptopsy) during the faster parts, but are just downright embarrassing for the breakdowns. The solos are quite respectable, not as good as what they've had in the past, but easily the best thing about the guitar work on offer.

Now, the next thing that really kills me as a Cryptopsy fan is to hear Flo being merely above average. He's not stunning. Still, better than what you usually get, but you never find yourself sitting there in bewilderment as to how he managed to play a certain section. Basically, due to the perpetual breakdown he doesn't have his usual chance to show off his amazing blast and fill compositions. Instead you get long double bass sections with Flo trying to do as much as possible, but still sounding like your standard rhythm keeper. Eric also lets me down, despite being one of favourite bass players, due to his sheer power and volume. He’s lost the complex edge to him, leaving nothing more than a thumping mass of loud slap bass.

Next up to the plate is Mr. Songwriting. And again, a laughable display of failure is here. Now, to be honest, since WS onwards, song writing has been shunned quite comprehensively by the group. And here is no different. The "tape a bunch of random riffs together" writing style is still in full effect on the heavy sections. Where it gets fun here is because of the new soft sections, which are unfortunately not like Cold Hate, Warm Blood's jazzy sections, instead they sound like the Deftones or some similar band. Really not a lot going on musically in any of these sections. This is bad enough, but they are so poorly moved into and out of it makes Opeth seem like transition experts. Things just stop, a particularly shitty riff will come in, Matt will sing for a few seconds, babies will cry, then things will stop, and a slightly less shitty breakdown will begin.

One good thing that has happened is Maggie Durand. I had sat fear in since the announcement of the keyboardist/sampler, the second word of those two is the one that had me worried, but as it turns out my concerns are completely unfounded. Is it because she's a brilliant keyboardist? Nope. It's because she doesn't exist. Nope, they found someone to take photos with, and forgot to tell her where the recording studio was. So Flo recorded a couple of little three note beginner tunes, tacked them randomly into a couple of the songs, and pretended that she was involved. That's the best excuse I can think of for ever having such an unnecessary band member.

Now, I still have to give credit when it's warranted, the first three songs are merely wet farts in comparison to the rest of the fully fledged turds on the remainder of the album. And I guess when they take up nearly a quater of the run time I can't give this album a zero without factoring in my personal disgust of the changes made. And again, the solos are good, and the drumming is still good, just not the percussion orgasm we know. The guitars do sound quite good, but are mixed quite low.

I'm really digging pretty deep to find any positives, this album is horrible enough if you rate the content on the disk for what it is. But once you hear it for yourself, it becomes pretty hard to look at purely for what the content it is, and trust me, when you feel personally about this album, the score gets lower. Avoid this like a swarm of killer bees carrying the Ebola virus.

But it’s not necessarily good, either.

I have to say, when I found out Cryptopsy was finally following up Once Was not, I was excited as hell. None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh are easily two of my favorite death metal albums, and even though their later works like Whisper Supremacy and Once Was Not weren’t quite on the same level, they were still great in their own rights. With The Unspoken King, I was half hoping Lord Worm’s voice would magically revert to the mastery heard on None So Vile and maybe, just maybe, we’d have another worthwhile Cryptopsy album.

Alas, as I had failed to keep up with the latest Cryptopsy news, it totally slipped my mind that Lord Worm left once again. It’s seems unanimous that Matt McGachy was a horrible choice, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, his voice, unlike most, is not my main complaint with The Unspoken King. His death metal voice is high and resembles the recent trend of death core bands. His high scream is essentially in the same vein. His clean singing, while not completely terrible, is…why the hell is there clean singing in a Cryptopsy album?!

While I would easily take Mike DiSalvo over McGachy, still, the weakest part of the album would have to be the instrumental work in general. I have no problem with the electronics; they are, once again, out of place in a Cryptopsy album, but their use isn’t so overwhelming that it sounds like a terrible Dimmu Borgir ripoff. The problem is really the riffs. Worship Your Demons honestly sounds like it was lifted directly from a Job for a Cowboy album. The awful dissonant lead guitar harmonies and the lack of Cryptopsy’s trademark style of brutality just don’t sounds like the band should sound. Bemoan the Martyr has traces of the old melodic touch that Cryptopsy used to use in the classic days, but the electronic breaks and singing just don’t tread well overall. The same applies to The Plagued and Leach.

Fortunately, there are some mildly solid songs here that prevent me from rating The Unspoken King as low as everyone else has, although their motives for flaming the album are unquestionable. The Headsmen sounds much more along the lines of the solid Cryptopsy sound and Resurgence of an Empire isn’t far off. Anoint the Dead, to a very limited extent, has a None So Vile-esque vibe to it before more of the dissonant death core harmonies tear it down. Contemplate Regicide is slightly reminiscent of Phobophile minus the electronics.

Overall, had the album not been put out by Cryptopsy, I probably would have rated it higher. I try not to let double standards like that show in my opinions of music, but Cryptopsy set the bar for death metal so high ten years ago it’s saddening to see what they’ve become. The Unspoken King could certainly be appreciated a little more if the name of the band is pushed from your mind. But given that band, is that possible? The Unspoken King uses a fair amount of new tools the band had never used before, but in the end their tools that Cryptopsy never should have stored in their shed in the first place. Bad vocals, generally sub par riffing, goofy keyboards, and the lack of the beloved Cryptopsy sound easily label this as their worst album. About the only consistent aspect of the album is the production, but given the music itself, I doubt any metal fan in their right mind will buy The Unspoken King because it was well mastered.

Who are Cryptopsy trying to appeal to here? This is easily the most bizarre case of "selloutitis" I've ever witnessed, only being second to Nocturnal Rites' far fall from grace at about this exact same time last year, with a once respectable Death Metal band ditching a large portion of their Deathy influences in favor for a quasi-modern songwriting style that does nothing but give me a migraine. New vocalist Matt McGachy is really into what he's doing, but he isn't very good, plain and simple, boasting an atrociously bad set of clean vocals alongside some shitty tuff-guy -coreish vocals and a generic Deathcore yowl that could probably attract lonely cats if utilized under the right circumstances. And while keyboardist Maggie Durand is very capable, she is barely used at all on this album, making many a disgruntled Cryptopsy fan wonder why they bothered.

But the most puzzling part is that this still kind of sounds like Cryptopsy in places, most noticeably in Flo Mournier's drumming, still the same winding hurricane of brutality that it always was (although extremely simplified now, the feeling is still there). There are no good riffs or melodies on here at all, but if you took away the vocals, you'd be left with something that sounds like an uninspired shell of what we all love the band for in the first place. While it's nothing to praise the band for, there is at least one section on most of the songs here that sounds kinda-sorta like older Cryptopsy, as if the old Cryptopsy were a trapped bird struggling to escape from the iron prison of commerciality that surrounds it now. This isn't a total sellout, as the band could've gone totally over the line and written an album like Enemy of the Sun's debut, instead of a merely irritating one with shitty vocals and more simplistic playing than is usual for Cryptopsy.

The funny thing about this album is how hard it tries. It starts off with three fairly standard Deathcore-ish songs, which are neither excellent or horrible, just standard for the genre, and then when "Bemoan the Martyr" hits, everything starts to slide downhill. It's like the band was playing safe for a little while before they finally threw caution to the wind and started tossing in random elements like that bouncy synth intro on the aforementioned song, and the random clean vocals and atmospheric sections on "The Plagued," as well as a host of modern chugging riffs, breakdowns and other such oddities for Cryptopsy. The band was SO EAGER to release their "creative" energy, yet they have zero ideas, and so we have an album that is 80% modern ear-sodomizing garbage and 20% uninspired technical extreme music without bark or bite. This is a creative Twilight Zone, in a way, not being creative in a good way, yet not being uncreative or unoriginal enough to warrant cries of "clone of (BAND XYZ)!!!1!" or anything of the sort. No, this is creative in a bad way, with haphazard song construction and piss-poor instrumentation clashing brilliantly (or devilishly?) with the terrible ideas thrown in to create an unholy marriage of all that is bad about modern metal, with a few new nuances as well.

But in the end, the biggest area this album fails in is that of enjoyability. In every respect possible, The Unspoken King is almost completely unlistenable. Every single song here feels about twice the length that it really is, and they're all filled TO THE FUCKING BRIM with ear-raping mallcoreish howling, whingy 14-year-old-angst clean vocals, oppressive, blatantly bad deathcore riffs and tons and tons of those fucking drums. They never give you a break! This whole album is a drag to listen to; a grueling chore that I would only wish on my very worst enemies, and most of the time it's more boring than offensive, blending into the background like the harmless yelps of a tiny chihuahua nipping at your heels while you're trying to put the bacon on the stove in the morning. That's just about the worst insult one can bestow upon a band; that they sound like background music. Not just background music, but bad background music. I could leave this album on while I wrote my current story, and it would leave no impression at all, except that of faint, wispy annoyance.

We'll never know the answers to some things. What happened to Amelia Earhart? What happened to Roanoke Island? What goes on in Area 51? Where are the hundreds of little children that go missing by the day? Now we can add a new item to our never-ending list of criteria: What persuaded Cryptopsy to write this music?

The world may never know.

The album opens with a blast and a shriek. Not too pussified, nice. Then it immediately becomes a bit suspect when the vocalist demonstrates his ability at singing fast - which is minimal at best. His squawking is a little like the Haunted but generally weaker and sounding closer to the hardcore shouted vocal style. Then it gets even worse, as the song plummets into a tedious slow section sounding no different from any deathcore band before being interrupted by yet another blast that has no musical reason to be there.

The harsh vocals range between hollow, slightly weak grunts, similar to Swedish style bands such as the Haunted, attempted shrieks which sound like pig squeals, to mid-ranged stuff which resemble at best Soilwork's and at worst Disturbed's vocal styles. The clean vocals sound like Linkin Park's (which I shall refer to as LP from here on in) Chester Bennington and are utilised quite poorly. A band which can use clean vocals quite well is mid-period Soilwork, but this is nowhere near that level both in the song writing and the ability of the vocalist. The drumming is fine, although the drum writing doesn't fit with the music. The snare sound is somewhere between drum machine and dustbin lid. The keyboards are almost non-existent.

The riffs aim for some kind of technicality but come across more as thudding, grooving tunes occasionally interrupted by out of place blasts. Generally the kind of music aimed at getting people "psyched up" in hardcore moshpit style. Instead of providing an appealing change in dynamics for the music, each of the many breakdowns, often accompanied by distorted spoken vocals (no doubt to add to the "diversity" of this "epic art"), gradually begins to wear on the listener. The very dry and anodyne sound of this passionless release causes the uninspired riffs to blend together and provide little or no interest, the bass is seemingly geared towards adding weight to their sick jungle stomps rather than providing anything musically appealing.

The vocal tune at the beginning of Silence the Tyrants sounds similar to Cameo's Word Up, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a rip-off. There is actually another passage like this in another song, perhaps demonstrating Cryptopsy's new found respect for urban dance music. Towards the end of this song there is the first evidence that the keyboardist hasn't gone AWOL - a handful of plinky-plonky notes which disappear as rapidly as they arrived, having achieved nothing in the process. The Headsman is mid-paced groove central, the music any self-respecting McDonalds employee would love to play in their car on the way home from work.

Bemoan the Martyr is the first track with major use of clean vocals. It opens with a LP styled "emotional" spoken word part à la Points of Authority before opening with an even more numetal "epic", "soaring", "emotional" entry for the sung vocals. At first it seems like an attempt to add some more "diversity", as the usual midrange Soilwork squawking continues throughout the song. But then after yet another fucking breakdown towards the end, the fucking thing returns. It is pure emo, and its effect is the total opposite of intended - no doubt as some "EPIC" conclusion, but it hammers the final nail into the coffin that this band can no longer write songs, and have so little sense of reality that it's amazing they can still play their instruments.

Flo's comments about the negative feedback on this album pretty much confirm this - he considers previously loyal fans as idiots for not liking this music, and also considers it as extreme as the band has ever been. As another whinging metalcore chorus in Leach (sounding like Alice in Chains minus irony or talent, sort of like the chorus in Sickman) drones ineffectually these comments appear even more laughable. The impression is that Cryptopsy don't like metal anymore, and have an even lower opinion of metal fans.

At this point the formula has gotten desperately tedious. The frequent chugging riffs under mid-paced vocals would appeal to people who like Korn, or perhaps fans of African tribal music. The frequent blasting passages sound ineffectual and absurd in context with the rest of the music, heightening the feeling of inept and frustrated "anger" without any real focus, either on technicality or aggression, just watered down music aimed at mainstream appeal. The opening of The Plagued demonstrates the band's admiration of LP's Chester yet more. The following track at several points sounds like the band is having to hold back from bursting into a cover of Down with the Sickness - and their attempts not to look like a complete rip-off of several existing pop bands is manifested in frequent out of place blastbeats seemingly only there to add some plausible deniability that they are completely emulating Disturbed.

The entire effect is so utterly half-assed and thrown together that it is surprising. It doesn't even work as numetal. Essentially there is an uncomfortable mix of blasts and whines. It beggars belief that the band are not aware of what they are doing, so DO NOT give them the benefit of the doubt that they have all suffered from minor strokes and consider this to be extreme technical death metal. This is Cryptopsy with a raging hard on for a big cash injection and no understanding of concepts such as "artistic principles" or "personal integrity". The band doesn't even have the dignity to make the discomfort as short as possible. The 47 minute length of this album is almost as despicable as its musical content.

If you must listen to this album, borrow or steal it. Do not encourage or fund this shitty band.

One thing that I've learnt in my 9 or so years as a metal and music listener in general is that selling out isn't always as bad as it seems, as long as it's done right. There's two different types of selling out, one which is quite ok and the other which fails hard. Let's find us some examples.

An example of 'good selling out' would be the Black Album. It's poppy and full of short, ridiculously catchy songs. The production is incredibly commericial and polished, and every second of it is just designed to be as enjoyable and catchy as possible. I guess another good example would be In Flames' Whoracle album (though one could argue that In Flames existed for the sole purpose of making it big).

And an example of bad selling out would be Cold Lake. Almost a lazy attempt at selling out, there's no real attempt to be catchy and make things enjoyable and sugary for the first time listener; instead the band just forces its' formula (which in CF's case was getting quite tired at that point) into the style of music that's popular at the time. In Celtic Frost's case, the end result was a rather terrifyingly bad version of hair metal, a disastrous decision for everyone involved- the old fans rejected CF, and there were no new fans to pick up the slack because the attempt was so dire.

Needless to say, Cryptopsy fit into the 'bad sell out' category. This is their Cold Lake, except that it's done in an even worse genre.

And like Cold Lake, it's a poor attempt at a poor genre, one of those things that makes you wonder "wow, deathcore must be harder to do then I thought". The usual deathcore-isms are here (along with a worrying amount of emo-ness).. overtly clicky kick drums and poor snare triggering, plenty of breakdowns and vocals that are incredibly annoying- but it's done even worse then usual. The guitars are completely devoid of any memorability- go on, name one riff from this album. They grind along at a fairly unassuming pace, way back in the mix and completely harmless, going through rather tired progressions and riffs that I could've sworn were on the first JFAC EP. The mix is also a bit of an indictment, really- it's boring and hopelessly sterile, the guitars are way to quiet and the drums and vocals far too loud. Come on, guys! If you're going to sell out at least do it properly.

The poor attempt at deathcore isn't really the main problem, though. I'm sure most readers were familiar with Flo's terrible attempts at justifying this album, explaining something along the lines of 'no one has ever put such an open minded mix of FEELING into extreme metal', or some sort of crap along those lines anyway. Well, I guess the reason why no one has is that the end result sounds like shite. I know it's getting a bit old already to knock the new singer, but he is honestly quite shit, having an extremely weak voice that fails at holding long notes and just whines. It's quite a stomach churning experience, really, listening to the attempts at emotion on this album, especcially when it's combined with the usual Cryptopsy habit of stringing together various unrelated riffs. To be honest, I'd prefer it if excrement like 'The Plagued' actually held its' sense of melody for the whole song, instead of going from woeful clean parts to terrible ill fitting blast sections. 'Bemoan the Martyr' has a somewhat similar feeling, and overall it just reeks, reeks! of fail.

I guess that's probably a good place to leave it. Cryptopsy's newest record isn't JUST a sellout, it's a bad sellout, it's a terrible attempt at a genre that isn't particularly hard to stuff up. Avoid at all costs.

I know distinguish between Cryptopsy and Craptopsy, with the latter beginning their career with this album, and I propose that the head honchos of the Archives add Craptopsy as an alternate name, so it'll show up upon searching. There are reasons I listen to Cryptopsy, and then there are reasons I don't listen to deathcore. I listen to Cryptopsy (albeit not as often as most fans seems to) for the hyperblasting intensity, vile yet indecipherable lyrics, Lord Worm's frenzied and frankly terrifying growls and shrieks, the unnecessary and foolish yet bizarrely entertaining bass breaks, and Flo's absolute kit mastery. I don't listen to deathcore for the unimaginative riffing, groove gone wrong, god awful vocals, copious useless breakdowns, and pretty much every element that is a staple to the genre. I've tried to appreciate these bands for what they are, but I just can't. Craptopsy has managed to take the worst of both deathcore AND fucking mallcore, throw out all of their previously established traits, and market it to the lowest common denominator of music fans.

I sit here in my basement, on an old Dell computer, drinking a generic brand of Dr. Pepper, eating a cheap Frito's knockoff, and I'm listening to this album, and I cannot convince myself that I'm surrounded by mediocrity. The computer works, the pop and chips are decent, but the music is absolute unmitigated shit. I'm listening to a mallcore abortion with traces of deathcore thrown in just to piss off the old fans. There are breakdowns galore, it's like Killswitch Engage's wet dream. There is nothing wrong with breakdowns when used tastefully (listen to Raining Blood for a prime example), but so many shitty bands nowadays have decided that a breakdown is just a perpetually unchanging open chord in an atypical rhythm. It can work, but not here. Craptopsy has essentially created the perfect failure in the sense of the breakdowns.

But lets not get hung up on something silly like breakdowns, because that is but a small part of the music as a whole. Well, I'll tell you that the songwriting is equally atrocious. Maybe not in terms of structure, as that's a stupid thing to bitch about, let alone take time to make an analytical evaluation of such a thing, but in terms of what is in the songs. New vocalist Matt McGachy is decent by deathcore standards, so I guess he fits... But then again, I'm not going to compliment a complete dickhead for being really good at kicking me in the balls. Every once in a while, he attempts this punch worthy clean mallcore whining. As soon as ANY trace of mallcore appears in your music, you might as well tuck your nuts inwards, return your metalhead license, and leave the fucking hall. The new keyboardist, Maggie Durand, serves zero purpose and is only audible four or five times. It's like a saxophonist joining Motorhead! What's the fucking point?! If they could've utilized her properly *cue jokes*, she could've been an interesting addition that may have been the breath of fresh air that Cryptopsy needed. Instead, she does piss all and has her name on the first Craptopsy record. Nice way to sully your careers morons!

Even the established members are underwhelming. Flo only shows what he's made of a few times while the rest of this atrocity is just really uncreative beats with none of the charm or intensity that the previous records contained. The bass sounds mallcorish, and there are nearly zero solos on the record. Solos aren't a necessity, but when the music is this boring and/or bad, a little break like that is appreciated. But, as has been said, and as all Cryptopsy fans have feared, with both Jon and Worm gone, The Unspoken King lacks everything that made Cryptopsy what it was back in the 90s. And as if the performances weren't dull and crappy enough, almost every song is over four minutes, which is way too long for this bullshit music.

This is one of the few bands that deserves to lose points purely for the past. Honestly, on a purely musical level, this might score something in the teens. I know I'll be bitched at for that comment, but I feel it holds merit here. If Helloween would've released Obscura, would it still have such a ridiculously high score? No, that is a case (albeit an extreme one) where the name actually becomes a hindrance. The worst of the worst on here are most likely Bemoan the Martyr, Anoint the Dead, The Plagued, and Contemplate Regicide, but trust me when I say nothing is remotely good. The Headsmen actually has a few enjoyable parts, but it's one of the VERY rare occasions.

Congratulations Craptopsy, are you proud of all the new fans you've garnered? I've yet to meet a Cryptopsy fan yet that has liked The Unspoken King. In all, there are nearly no redeeming qualities at all, and deserves every chunk of shit thrown at it. Grating, unimaginative, objectively shitty, some of the worst wannabe Job for a Cowboy vocals I've ever heard (why anybody would ever look to that band for inspiration is beyond me), unimpressive, and repulsive in every sense of the word. Please, do yourselves a favor and don't follow in my footsteps. Do not listen to The Unspoken King. Go drink a triple thick diarrhea milkshake straight from your mother's ass, it'll probably be more enjoyable than this god awful abomination of an album.

Throughout Cryptopsy's history, despite the fairly turbulent lineup changes, they have always managed to release top quality death metal albums. From the straight up riff genius of Slit Your Guts to the more experimental and atmospheric mood of tracks like The End, the band has always been nothing short of awesome. The Unspoken King is no exception. The riffs are just as original and brutal as ever, the drumming is incredible and the vocals especially are just out of this world, so much better than Lord Worm and Mike DiSalvo, who are both incredibly overrated. The songs all retain that very true death metal Cryptopsy sound that has remained in their records all these years. If you are an open-minded Cryptopsy fan, who voted for John Kerry, then you will want to hear this, as the album is a true...

I couldn't even make it one full paragraph. The Unspoken King is fucking awful. REALLY fucking awful. Right from the beginning, with 'Worship Your Demons', you can tell it's going to be. Within the first ten seconds there's been a stop-start riff, several pathetic screams layered over each other and within the first 20 there is a vocal sound that is like a weak midrange growl, but with a tone approaching pig squeal territory, and a hilarious riff that manages to be both horrendously -core (chugs in unison with vocals) and pseudo-technical (scale runs between said chugs) at the same time. Most of this album can be summed up by these 20 seconds. However, there are a few other things that need to be addressed.

The album does, most of the time, still sound like Cryptopsy owing solely to the distinctive tones of Éric Langlois and Flo Mounier on drums, respectively. Don't think that this redeems the album in any way though, as it makes it even harder to forget that this IS Cryptopsy, the band that made None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh. One thing that hasn't changed since then, though, is Flo's drumming, as it is absolutely brilliant. His technique, tone and unique style is still here. The problem is though, that drumming alone cannot save music this bad (though the drum parts do stop a couple of half-decent riffs from being unbelievably shitty ones). Around 98% of the riffs are either painfully dull or just painful, essentially proving that without Jon Levasseur Cryptopsy riffs are just not good. Unfortunately, even the one or two decent riffs are totally mudded up and ruined by the vocals of Matt McGachy. His vocals are fairly varied, but always complete balls. I didn't even like any of Cryptopsy's vocalists (though I enjoyed Lord Worm's performance on Once Was Not) but their albums were kept afloat by the fantastic work of the rest of the band. With McGachy, not only would it be impossible to keep afloat anyway (see: videos of McGachy performing Abigor live), but the rest of the band are so dull most of the time that it's not even worth thinking about how the album would sound if Lord Worm was doing vocals.

When Cryptopsy announced their lineup change, adding a keyboard player and vocalist who could perform cleans, quite a lot of fans (myself included) were quite intrigued, as the more experimental and chilled out stuff on Once Was Not was actually very good. Well, this isn't. McGachy is a very average clean singer, and maybe he would be passable in a band like Deftones, but with Cryptopsy his vocals just do not work. An example of this would be in 'Bemoan The Martyr', where he lets out some long held notes over a Langlois-dominated groove riff. The riff isn't good anyway, but with those vocals it just sounds like Deftones with Cryptopsy production; not impressive.

The other element that could have added something interesting to Cryptopsy's sound was the addition of keyboard player Maggie Durand. Now, on this entire new album, you can hear her playing for a collective 20 seconds or so. That is not an exaggeration. There are a few little soundscape effects on some of the quieter parts which are presumably her work also, but overall the album would sound almost the exact same without her. When you can hear her, she is actually quite good, and funnily enough, all of these decent moments are times when it's a bit quieter, and Matt is either silent, or doing spoken word (which, as cliché as it is, does not sound awful). Why is she here?

Well, we may find out eventually from the defensive spouts of Mr Mounier. On that topic, basically everything he has said defending this album is pure bullshit. He said the two tracks that were originally leaked ('Bemoan The Martyr' and 'Resurgence Of An Empire') were 'mood' tracks, and that the rest of the album was very, very brutal. While it can't be denied that a lot of the album is pretty brutal, it is still shit and there are several tracks that are far more fitting as 'mood tracks' than the leaked ones, proving that Flo was just trying to keep all his fans still vaguely interesting in purchasing this album. He also accused the people who didn't like these tracks of being close minded. I was very open to the addition of keyboards and clean vocals, and even when I heard Matt McGachy in his other band, 3 Mile Scream, I thought he might be able to pull off a good growl for Cryptopsy. I was wrong. You don't need to be close minded to realise that this is shit. You really don't.

It is also worth nothing that this album has the worst ending that an album has ever had. It is impossible to describe in words, you'll have to listen to truly understand how bad it is.

So, basically, The Unspoken King is a piece of shit. The only parts of the album which I even remotely enjoyed were some of the better 'ambient' parts, a couple of riffs where McGachy wasn't ruining them and the guitar solos, which were actually pretty damn good. Aside from those small things, this is a terrible excuse for a Cryptopsy album, and I hope they enjoy losing their entire fanbase, and failing to gain a significant new one.

Okay, so normally I don't write bad reviews, but this time I just can't help myself. Where do I begin? I always gave Cryptopsy's albums a chance because I've seen them live on a few occasions which gave me some sense of loyalty to not count them out entirely. This time around though I feel it is safe to say hat all hope for Cryptopsy is certainly an understatement.

Now, onto the album it self. There are many problems with this album which contributes to my incredibly low rating. They range from the vocals, lyrical content, instruments and production. On previous Cryptopsy records you were treated to a unique brand of brutal death metal with hints of melody and jazz influence,especially on their previous release, "Once Was Not" which saw the return of Cryptopsy original front man, Lord Worm, which added a nice touch to that release. Then, he gets the boot and is replaced by Matt McGachy who is the singer from metalcore outfit 3-Mile Scream. This brings me to my first problem with this record.

McGachy's vocals sound like a lame attempt at death metal growls with some clean vocals that would sound fantastic on a record from any run of the mill alternative rock band. Is Cryptopsy wishing to pursue an alternative music career and get out of death metal? Or did they just get tired of trying to find a good vocalist for their band? In either case, the vocals just don't work for this style of music.

Now onto the second problem with this album. The instrumentation. It seems like the guitarists got lazy, probably because they couldn't keep from laughing at McGachy's vocals. They seem to have stuck in the guitar tracks from their Whisper Supremacy album and pressed the record button and threw in a couple of slapped together solos to make it sound different to those fans who don't pay attention. Well, sorry boys some of us do and we are the ones who actually matter because we understand the faults that were made here.

Now onto what I thought could be the only saving grace for this album, but of course that did not turn out to be the case. I've always checked out Cryptopsy albums because of one thing. The drumming of Flo Monier, especially after attending a drum clinic of his in 2005. On, The Unspoken King though, even the drumming has been sacrificed. It seems like Monier decided to adjust to what MaGachy is accustomed to. The hardcore drumming technique that sounds like a sloppy attempt at being technical behind the kit.

This brings me to my final problem with this record. That of course being the production. The bass is really the only thing on the record that is 100 % audible and that is to say the bass isn't entirely all that impressive to begin with. The guitars appear to be used for background noise except for the occasional sloppy solo and the drumming is worst of all. In fact, the double bass drum sounds like a snare. I haven't heard a drum sound that bad since Malevolent Creation's Doomsday X, which almost makes me sad.

Finally, I would just like to say as my review says the Unspoken King should remain silent and if you are someone who is new to the death metal scene, please do yourself and all of us a favour and pass up the opportunity to lisen to this record. Belief me you aren't missing anything here. If you want good Cryptopsy listen to Blasphemy Made Flesh, None So Vile, and to a lesser extent; Once Was Not. In order to hear what Cryptopsy really is about.