Cryptic Brood – Necrotic Flesh Bacteria

When I ordered the band’s ‘Morbid Rite’ demo tape in 2013, I though the Cryptic Brood had a nice and entertaining take on the then waning Old School Death Metal revival. Nice and entertaining, yet nothing really shocking in terms of song writing, musicianship or originality. Now we are more than a decade and many releases further and we have arrived at this third album from this German trio. And, frankly, things have changed for the better on practically every aspect, the more dime a dozen sort of Death Metal has been switched for a rather technical and even, at times, progressive take on the Death/Doom Metal genre. Although the scene on the cover suggests otherwise, Cryptic Brood proves that experimenting, continued development and a determined attitude in this can lead to great things.

By the looks of it, things did not end well with the figure on the cover, but the band’s (musical) quest has found its way up from a decent band to a fine act, and by now it can be stated without hesitation that ‘Necrotic Flesh Bacteria’ is the best work these Germans have delivered so far. On this album, the band has thrown off the somewhat more standard Autopsy-driven Death Metal for good and goes wild with technical and adventurous songs.

Admittedly, in the second half of the album it all weakens a bit and starts to sound like more of the same, but it is undoubtedly true that Cryptic Brood have put themselves in certain waters where the competition/bar of the game is high. Whereas initially the band still mainly stayed on the more beaten track and focused on the limited musical finesse of bands like Autopsy and Asphyx, the parallel can now be found more in what Morbus Chron/Sweven put on the table in the first half of the 10’s. The at times slightly Thrashy riffs add a bit more of a rousing character to the whole thing, which also lends to a comparison with Horrendous’ earliest recordings or what the Norwegian’s of Sovereign achieved on their debut album that was released earlier this year. But, the Death/Doom Metal roots are not denied on this third long player either, however, it is wrapped up much more in a mid-90s fashion.

This is the kind of Death/Doom Metal that is far more creative than the average second-hand Paradise Lost or Katatonia fiefdoms. Instead, we are presented with a mix that echoes the creative highlights of those swirling 90’s bands like Sadness, Sadist and Dark Millennium. This means that there is much more going on than just slow and down-tuned riffing, be prepared for constant tempo changes, a barrage of maniacal vocals and a major role for interesting bass wizardry. The rather crisp and clean production adds to the feeling of authenticity and the band’s overall credibility.

While all this is not exactly completely new to the band, but ‘Necrotic Flesh Bacteria’ is definitely the album on which all the individual musical pieces fall into the rights places. And although musically and stylistically this album seems a light-year away from where the band started, it doesn’t feel like Cryptic Brood has already finished their (experimental) journey. The band is never slowing down, so it probably won’t be long before they come up with a new (split) EP either, which means it won’t be too long before we can welcome the next step in their rather impressive development.