Album Review: Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence (Season of Mist)

Montreal death metal innovators Cryptopsy return with their ninth studio album, An Insatiable Violence, set for release on June 20, 2025 on Season of Mist.

More than 30 years into their storied career, the revered band are continuing to crush it and reach new heights. Winning awards such as their first JUNO award for 2023’s As Gomorrah Burns, a hectic touring schedule and now new music, it’s a good time to be a Cryptopsy fans. We were lucky enough to catch them at Incineration Fest in Camden a month or two back and they sounded immense there. Here on An Insatiable Violence, Cryptopsy take aim at the monotony of life and our relationship with social media as McGachy states:

“It’s about a person that wakes up every day and fixes a machine. Tinkers with it, tries to make it better all day long, sweating in the sun, and then at night, they strap themselves into this machine and the machine tortures them, and they love it. Then they wake up the next day and fix it again to make it more efficient, to keep harnessing it, and then just keep doing it over and over again. We’re continuously trying to feed this algorithm of the machine while it’s totally tearing us apart socially and psychologically.”

Cryptopsy is Christian Donaldson on guitars, Flo Mounier on drums & backing vocals, Matt McGachy on vocals and Oli Pinard on bass.

An Insatiable Violence gets underway with The Nimis Adoration and demonstrates right from the off that Cryptopsy have as much, if not more, fire in their belly today as they did 30 years ago. It’s a vicious onslaught of technical death with ripping gutturals, insane drum levels and crunchy riffs. A pit monster of a track really, but as heavy as it starts, it juts seems to grow heavier and faster as the song progresses. What Cryptopsy do excel at as well as that even with attack mode enabled, there are little quirks to the riffs and drums, moments where the groove hits hard and even time for a superb solo. All of these elements combine to make a killer track that is so much more than just another death metal song.

Until There’s Nothing Left keeps the energy and aggression at extreme levels with superb vocals and a mix of tones. The drums are always killer and are again here moving through catchy patterns into the fastest of blast beats. Hard riffs, thick bass – it’s a nasty track. It feels angry, or even angrier and makes you gurn while headbanging. Moments where the pace changes a bit bring that stomping sound into play, the solo is short but effective – this is a strong start.

One that continues with Dead Eyes Replete. A song that doesn’t throw out any real surprises. It’s just Cryptopsy doing their thing, delivering a fast and furious banger where the production is clear enough to pick out all of the nuances and all of the instruments individually. I love the higher tone yells and screams and the subtle added melody in the instrumental breaks between verses.

Fools Last Acclaim is a slightly shorter song than what came before so Cryptopsy up the pace, despite it seeming impossible for the drums to go any harder, Mounier manages it. The technical edge to the band hits hard in places as you find yourself caught up in a maelstrom of madness and just sitting here writing this, all I want to do is get up and break something, headbang and fight my way to the pit.

The Art Of Emptiness drops the pace down, just for a moment for a very blackened intro. Otherwise it’s another rager bringing some mammoth riffs and roars to your ears. The cherry on top is the wicked swirling solo and of course the superb drumming display. On a first listen, it’s enjoyable chaos, but the more you listen the more layers you discover and the chunky groove section nearing the end is to die for. An Insatiable Violence continues with Our Great Deception and it is a welcome respite, just for a moment, from the relentless heaviness as we start off with a gentle melody. As the drums and guitars join in, it feels epic creating a powerful wave of sound that engulfs you.

We do move from that huge sound to something more familiar as the death metal takes over and the drums hit hyper speed. Vicious vocals, mixing tones with crunchy riffs and bass are likely to register on the Richter Scale live. This song is fire and shows a more expansive side of Cryptopsy. They don’t step back from the heaviness but intertwine moments of melody, plenty of groove and tempo changes to create a masterful track. Approaching the end, penultimate track Embrace The Nihility is a sub 4 minute assault with some really quirky guitar screeches and squeals too. What can I say – it’s Cryptopsy 101 really with drums, riffs and vocals to die for, an insane amount of heaviness and a ton of groove.

An Insatiable Violence closes with Malicious Needs. It’s the longest song on the album at nearly 6 minutes but the time flies by in a whirlwind of raging metal. It’s an impressive feat – 6 minutes of ultra heaviness could be too long but Cryptopsy are more than just a blast band and they keep things interesting with the changing vocal tones, the constantly evolving drum patterns and tempo changes. Going from extreme to groove, seamlessly is such a cool treat.

There are some odd guitar tones that have an almost nauseating feel to them, by design I imagine but also way more chunky riffs and clever little punctuating screeches and the like. The magic elevates further nearing the end when a sudden stop sees the song transform into a slower thumping track with a touch of melody and stretched screamed vocals. It feels huge and is a fitting way to close out both the song and the album.

Cryptopsy may have changed members a lot over their lengthy existence but what had never changed is their ability to deliver aggressive but exciting metal. Songs that scare your kids and parents, but, if you can find your way through to the eye of the storm, you find clever song writing, exciting structures, creativity and depth that won’t always be instantly heard on a first listen. It’s so cool to see a band with such history being so prominent, and maybe even peaking now. An Insatiable Violence is the sound of a band on form, unified and angry. After all these years, Cryptopsy are still innovating and still blazing a trail for heavy music and death metal.

Pre-order or pre-save your copy of Cryptopsy’s An Insatiable Violence here.

Tracklist:

1. The Nimis Adoration
2. Until There’s Nothing Left
3. Dead Eyes Replete
4. Fools Last Acclaim
5. The Art of Emptiness
6. Our Great Deception
7. Embrace the Nihility
8. Malicious Needs

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