Cryptae "Nightmare Traversal" Review

A new contender in the contest to sound like a hive of angry bees is on the scene…

    and Cryptae are their name. Formed by two members of other such unlovable, misanthropic bands as Plague Organ and Dead Neanderthals, Cryptae have gone about positioning themselves as a new breed of experimental death metal. With the gurgitation of their forthcoming album Nightmare Traversal, the ne'er-do-wells in question have given us a glimpse into their just-barely-musical world. And, I've got to say, they've pretty aptly named this monster; it is a nightmare to traverse. 

    I mean that in the most lighthearted way possible. If you've heard anything from Plague Organ or Imperial Cult you may have some inkling of the beat down you're about to receive. Although less monolithic than his recent releases under other monikers, Marlon Wolterink's stylistic presence dominates everything to do sonically with Cryptae (though he is only mentioned as engineer, he is present in all previously mentioned works, leading me to believe him mastermind behind at least PO and IC). In this way he [Wolterink] takes the opposite approach to the likes of Adam Kalmbauch (Jute Gyte) in having a new pseudonym for every stylistic departure he endeavors on. This time I find it a bit more justified than between PO and IC, as René, credited as RA, of Dead Neanderthals joins the mix to add a bit of variation. In this way, Cryptae feels in long strides a much more liminal project, not in it being a short-lived moniker, but in what it represents: a direct opposition to the likes of PO, IC, and DN. I'm sick of acronyms. 

    Of course, my musings about membership and intent could be utterly wrong. This whole project is shrouded in pseudoanonymity. 

    That all said, I'd like to offer congratulations to Cryptae. This might be the most vile, unearthly, pestilent, raucous violation of the arts I've heard in a hot minute. I love it. As I've come to self-describe myself as a lover of unlovable music, I find myself starstruck with this abomination. It's an amalgamation of sounds I feel inspired by machinery, manure, gunfire, gangrene, abandoned buildings, and car crashes that borders both on absurd and poignant. Within its first minute, Nightmare Traversal contains both haunting negative space and mechanical stumbling thru primitive riffs. Where normally I'd find a dichotomy of this type to be part-and-parcel of modern death metal, Cryptae take advantage of the simplicity by employing Wolterink's signature production style. The cornerstone of said style is this relentless compression of all instruments to the point of sounding like MIDI. I seriously thought on first listen, having not given Plague Organ or Imperial Cult a listen prior, that the first riff of "Nightmare Traversal" was recorded from Guitar Pro. As it went on, I realized it wasn't, and that every instrument sounds thus. And I laughed, because I thought I was being pranked. But I wasn't. Not only that, but once the rest of the instruments kicked in the track started to hit hard.

    Prevalent throughout Nightmare Traversal is, alongside this production style, just a monstrous set of rhythmic sensibilities. Unlike the near-meditative nature of Plague Organ or Dead Neanderthals, Cryptae is an exercise in piss pounding your listener with left jabs until they've become able to block them just to piss pound them instead with right hooks. It doesn't fucking end. As the first track fades, I thought things would stay in this disgusting middling state between beatdowns and machine-like instrumentation, just to be thrust into some new dimension. In this new alternate reality, I found Cryptae had decided that Hanatarash had collaborated with Compressorhead on a cover of "Walk", and thus I was exposed to the paradox of programmatic grooves that waltzed through "Cryptic Passage".

    I can find all sorts of descriptive language to cover what Nightmare Traversal has on offer, but really what you need to know is that it doesn't want you to listen to it. This is an album that makes me feel quite similar to how I feel about Swallowed's Lunarterial; it was made by some extraterrestrial race of anatomically dissimilar beings, disgusted with my very existence, expressing this sentiment in aural form. At least Nightmare Traversal has moments of reflection, as in tracks like "Oubliette" or "Cronos", where synth pads move into focus and allow the swirling carcinogenic mass to fall beneath them for a moment. There is also the mid-section of "Concrete Inferno" that feels quite like it could belong with Outre-era Portal, if the latter's drummer had a kit with cymbals instead of just a snare and a floor tom. But such a comparison does a disservice to the unrelenting nature of Cryptae's delivery. Throughout it's 30-minute length, Nightmare Traversal rarely slows down, rarely feels empathy in the pummeling it sets upon you. If ever there is a moment of breath, it is quickly ripped from under you and once again the vile swarm of bees is in your ears again. 

    So, take my word for it, Nightmare Traversal is not your average death metal release. Hell, its hardly average in any capacity. It stands head and shoulders above bands trying to create original content thru derivation. Where surely your Deathspell Omegas and your Ulcerates and your Portals of the world have carved their misanthropic niches thru dissonance and rhythm and relentlessness, Cryptae proves that stripping away the edifice and leaving just the hammer and the anvil of riff and beat is enough to unleash the hive. Draped in the livery of pustulence and raw, unapologetic machinery, you can still do justice to those desperate for sonic defilement with the bare essentials.

    Nightmare Traversal releases October 2nd thru Sentient Ruin, and can be streamed at their bandcamp here:

-Dalton

Edit: Wolterink isn't actually in the band, I'm just an idiot.