Cryptopsy - An Insatiable Violence

Angry Metal Guy 80

We all know the score for Cryptopsy by now. It’s been thirteen long years since their apology letter/fan service/throne rebuilding mission statement attempted to right the wrongs in the brutal death stalwart’s camp. But the wounds were too deep, the fanbase’s rage too visceral, and in the end, an otherwise excellent album passed by without much of the fanfare it deserved. In subsequent years, two slabs of incredible EP’s and one monster full-length have worked to regain the graces of death aficionados the world over. Constant touring and setting a personal record for being the first metal band to play in Saudi Arabia saw them putting in the work while fine-tuning the formula that brought them to the dance. Now, a meager two years after As Gomorrah Burns, the Canadians have not returned with The Book of Suffering III (unfortunately) but a new full-length in An Insatiable Violence. Is enough enough? Can we leave the checkered past behind us and welcome the return of the kings?

It’s my intellectually rooted, emotionally detached, and purely scientific opinion that we absolutely can. An Insatiable Violence is a masturbatory self-tribute of carnage on the grandest scale, touching on all the songwriting cornerstones that founded the classic Cryptopsy lore while still attempting to push the band’s compositions to new heights and their performances to ever more lethal levels. Every ingredient you can name in tech and brutal death, from waltz-rooted chuggathons (“Until There’s Nothing Left”), to staccato peppered twanging and forest-fire tempo’d savagery (“Fools Last Acclaim”), are worked with head chef precision into a concise, yet dense and detailed listen. Bassist Oliver Pinard’s fingerprints are all across the album with multiple solos and highlights (“The Art of Emptiness” “Our Great Deception”), adding color and texture to the fastest of riffs and depth of tone to the slower moments, ensuring an album that does its best to live up to its name in the bands overall trajectory.

An Insatiable Violence by Cryptopsy

The secret ingredient to Cryptopsy’s classics is catchy simplicity disguised through techy virtuosity¹. This focus is found throughout An Insatiable Violence, where accessible hooks and immediate earworms are run through a filter of proficiency and skill. “The Nimis Adoration” features one of the single most melodic solos in the band’s history, while “Malicious Needs” is constructed on the bones of a stuttering groove which would slot itself neatly into the band’s OG era. Indeed, the band said they wrote the album while touring in support of As Gomorrah Burns, which imparts a flavor that’s meant to be performed and consumed in a live setting, and every cut across the bloody board features a highlight to liquify vertebrae and flay nerve endings.

Individual performances in the Cryptopsy camp remain unsurprisingly top shelf. Flo Mounier continues to expand his drumming skillset in defiance of bands half his age, while Matt McGachy maintains his growth as a vocalist. An Insatiable Violence features some of his best work, with his vocals hitting pitches both high and low yet to be heard in his tenure with the band, while growing in enunciation and barbarism. Throughout the album, the band writes a tribute to each of their eras, from grooves that sound pulled right from The Book of Suffering to acoustic strums from the avant-garde middle period, to the vintage, PTSD-inducing savagery of yore. Even the lyrics² attempt to return to the storytelling literature vibe of olden days, and while it’s true nothing will quite hit the vibe of “Pardon, please”, the mood is permeated throughout the release.

An unusually early promo from Season of Mist has allowed me to spend almost two full months with An Insatiable Violence, and each of the near fifty listens I’ve had offer up some new detail, compositional nuance, or performative bit which stands out and demands my attention. For the last decade plus, Cryptopsy have enhanced their skillset, honed their compositions, and fine-tuned their performances into the giants they used to be. It is time to leave the past in the past, to cease using The Unspoken King as a benchmark of career banality, and to recognize that the throne has indeed been rebuilt. An Insatiable Violence is engaging, bloodthirsty, frantic, and most importantly, an excellent release from a granddaddy band who are here to remind any that there truly is none so vile.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: Album Bandcamp | Band Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025

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