Maggot Crown – Cryptic Immoral Secure

‘Cryptic Immoral Secure’ is Maggot Crown’s very first full‑length album from 2021, following their two EPs in 2015 and 2019. An album that sadly slipped through our paws back then.

Maggot Crown is the nefarious collaboration between Justin Vølus on vociferations and Jared Moran on all the rest. Vargheist Records promoted the album as a brutal, technically sharp death‑grind assault, hailing from Mississippi and South Carolina’s underground scene. It’s way more than that. Caverns of gore under a red sky. Apocalyptic soundscapes emerge from pitch‑black, sulphuric darkness, blending brutal Death and Grind with abysmal yet rotten technicality, leaving out any trace of commercial tendencies. Think vintage Morbid Angel, Incantation, and Immolation mixed with some pioneer grind from Terrorizer or Repulsion for seasoning and crunch — and a dash of Cryptopsy to top it off.

Not too many whistles and bells on this album, no superfluous trimmings — just straight‑forward Metal of Death. The regurgitated vocals clearly have their origins in grindcore — no standard grunt here, but more of the rancid bellowing of a vomiting pig that’ll make you run for cover.

The drumming is not of this earth — impossible to keep up with, and it doesn’t turn into a mushy blast‑beat soup. Christ on a crutch — this album should carry a health warning!

A merciless pounding on skins, beastly scrubbing on the axes, ejaculating monstrous riffs and just enough changes of pace to get some much‑needed oxygen before asphyxiation occurs — ‘Cryptic Immoral Secure’ has it all. No fillers, zero riffs that go nowhere, no dead (sic) moments. Someone ought to put these maniacs over the border.

Production is impeccable, with just the right amounts of delay and reverb — the balance of sound is virginally untouched. This ain’t no laughing matter, kiddies — Maggot Crown go for the throat and pulverize everything in their wake. With the right exposure and promotion, this album can still go places. And it will. Never say never. Good music is timeless as we all know …