Brisbane

Cryptivore, Celestial Extinction (Bitter Loss Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , ,

Australian one man band Cryptivore rakes the earth with Celestial Extinction, the inaugural long-player.

Brisbane’s own Chris Anning handles all the instruments, including voice, for his project Cryptivore. Five years ago he released a demo called Unseen Divinity, and now we have ten new songs. There isn’t any inherent reason why one person cannot take on the complete burden of creation and performance, except that it is a lot to do – it’s an enormous task. Sometimes it turns out well and other times you really miss the third party perspective collaborators provide. In the case of Cryptivore, the end result is excellent and engaging death metal. Well done.

The ten songs on Celestial Extinction all fall in the two-to-three-minute range, and brevity is an opportunity for high impact. “Gate Of Dismal Torture” is an excellent example. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it has great hooks and is able to stimulate suspense with tempo changes and unexpected punches. The track the follows immediately, “The Ethereal Deceased,” has a convincing doom intro followed by a catchy hook then pressed on by a forceful death metal verse. There are many looks on this album – it is full of exploration.

The elements in the music are clear enough to see. The best part about the music is the way Anning combines them and puts his own unique flair and sensibility in the mix. The first bars of “Solemn Desolation” are like a call to dark meditation and that gets almost immediately juxtaposed with a ravaging death metal torrent but then on the way out there is a cooking groove. I got into this album immediately and stayed with it all the way through, from the opening wails of “Cocoon Hecatomb” to the closing dramatic bars of the anchoring title track. Recommended.

Celestial Extinction is out on March 15th through Bitter Loss Records on digital, CD, and vinyl.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://bitterlossrecords-au.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-extinction

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Cryptivore/

Bitter Loss Records, https://www.bitterlossrecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards. All rights reserved.

Cryptivore, Celestial Extinction (Bitter Loss Records 2022)

Descent, Order Of Chaos (Brilliant Emperor 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

The new album from Descent is step forward in their heavy music campaign.

Order Of Chaos is the second full-length album from Brisbane, Queensland death metal band Descent, following 2018’s Towers of Grandiosity and a demo three years before that. The music they play is a brutal mesh of death metal, black metal, and hardcore. According to the Metal Archives, the band is Jim Dandy (bass), Anthony Oliver (vocals), Kingsley Sugden (drums), Brendan Auld (guitar), and Josh Kane (guitar).

I wrote a book (pseudonymously ) a few years back titled The Sequence Of Random Events so I appreciate the concept of Order Of Chaos. You think about it for a while and there is always a pattern in there somewhere and meaning can be ascribed. Alternately, the chaos itself might be the order, eh – that’s a brain-pulsing notion on its own. Of course it could just be that there is never any order and searching for it is a waste of time so you might as well embrace the chaos. Or … we could just listen to the music.

The punishing begins at the jump with “Tempest” and carries through on all eight tracks. The gravely rawness of the vocals is hammered home by the relentless percussion and rhythm. The riffs carry both a violent menace and a patterning groove. The lead guitar is like close-up knife work that makes an art of the carving. Don’t drop the needle on this one if you are not ready for the rumble.

My favorite tracks are “Fester” and “Safe.” The former has a hook with a wicked barbed that attracted my gaze and then would not let go. The latter track is the shortest of the set and it is just a hard straight shot to the face. The album shook the ice out of my beard and got my blood up. Recommended.

Brilliant Emperor Records releases Order Of Chaos on Friday, January 14th. Redefining Darkness has the CD and Caligari Records offers up the cassette.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://descentmetal.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/descentmetalbrisbane

Brilliant Emperor Records, https://brilliantemperor.bigcartel.com/

Descent, Order Of Chaos (Brilliant Emperor 2022)

Idle Ruin, Idle Ruin (2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Australian metal trio Idle Ruin throw out the first volley with their self-title debut get-acquainted EP.

The band is Liam Anthony, Kaleb Doherty, Josh Dawson, started by Anthony as an experimental project to see where it would go. The live music hiatus we’ve all been on was an excellent opportunity to put some new music together and that is exactly what he did. The result is four raging metal songs that will peel the paint off of any venue.

The music is fast, bordering on Thrash, and you could easily hang the Death Metal label on it, too. I read it described as “death metal crossed with blackened thrash.” That sounds right. I hear the elements I like best from Black Metal seasoning the music. The main things: hard, fast, loud.

“Whipped To Death” sets the stage with an ominous opening riff and then launches into accelerating aggression. “Spiritual Contagion” starts out at full speed, whirling like a sandstorm beaten up by an angry djinn. “The Devil’s Trade” was released early for airplay, and hearing it you’ll know why – it is a concentrated ball of metal fury. “Gods Of Glass” is a show closer that seals the deal, with complex percussion and wailing guitars. Treat yourself to this one for a high voltage infusion of adrenaline. Recommended.

You can get the CD or digital right now. The fastest grab is Bandcamp.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://idleruin.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/idleruin

Idle Ruin, Idle Ruin (2020)