Released: May 26, 2008
Jesus jumping fucked-up Christ! What the fuck is this supposed to be? Cryptopsy has never seemed to me to be a band that has really lived up to their reputation, but there's no way I was expecting this. Even though I've never been a huge fan, I picked up the differences right away. Firstly, it wasn't quite as stupidly chaotic and technical as usual. Then there was the vocals. Worm's bloodcurdling and occasionally terrifying utterances are gone, since he has now been replaced by some whiny, shrieky generic metalcore guy. Still, despite what was quite obviously a shift, The Unspoken King gets underway all right if you can accept the considerable dumbing-down of their previously overwhelming technicality. And the much-vaunted female keyboardist has no impact at all, because it's almost like she doesn't exist outside of photo shoots.
Then "Bemoan the Martyr" came on and I sat up in my chair wondering what the hell I was listening to, because it sounded like someone had switched it for Linkin Park. I even ejected the CD from the computer to check if I was still listening to Cryptopsy. Apparently, I was. It was in moment I realised the truth. For some unfathomable reason, this band has suddenly gone from crushing technical brutal death metal to half-arsed, unimaginative deathcore. If that track wasn't bad enough (and it is), The Unspoken King just gets worse from then on. "Leach" starts out as what can only be described as a cliched thrash track and then somewhere in the middle morphs into something that Avenged Sevenfold would have thrown away. But they save the worst til last. Trust me when I tell you that the last three minutes of "Bound Dead" sounds like Chester Bennington getting together with Disturbed and destroying everything you every loved about heavy metal.
As I said at the start of this review, I wasn't really ever that much of a Crytopsy fan, so for me to be disgusted by what they've turned into, I can't even imagine how gutted people who liked them must feel. I don't know about contemplating regicide, but a lot of death metal fans will be contemplating Mounier-cide after this travesty.
- Worship Your Demons
- The Headsmen
- Silence the Tyrants
- Bemoan the Martyr
- Leach
- The Plagued
- Resurgence of an Empire
- Anoint the Dead
- Contemplate Regicide
- Bound Dead
- (Exit) The Few
Rating: 5%
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