Death metal juggernaut Cryptopsy return to pummel our
collective senses a new with their new album

Their first for Nuclear Blast, the Montreal-based quartet—featuring
founding member/drummer Flo Mounier, guitarist Christian
Donaldson, vocalist Matt McGachy, and bassist Olivier
“Oli” Pinard—advance their signature Northern power as they
celebrate 30-plus years of extremity. The merciless blasts of
“Lascivious Undivine” and “Flayed the Swine” offer Cryptopsy
at their most intense and maniacal, while “In Abeyance” and
“The Righteous Lost” groove savagely. As Gomorrah Burns underscores
the animus of fan-favorite None So Vile (1996) and
the meticulous technicality of And Then You’ll Beg (2000) with
a strikingly sinister vibe.
Conceptually, As Gomorrah Burns pits the Biblical story of
Sodom and Gomorrah against the modern-day Internet.
McGachy’s idea was to show how it’s both the birthplace of
invention and a cesspool of exploitation. The stories are based
on real-life incidences—online stalkers, cults, misinformation,
isolation, and intimidation—but ornamented deviously to enhance
their potency. Cryptopsy commissioned Italian artist
Paolo Girardi (Power Trip, Temple of Void) to complement the
old-world lyrical themes. If Renaissance masters Hieronymus
Bosch and El Greco were thrust into McGachy’s modern mind,
the stunning cover of As Gomorrah Burns would be the outcome.
As with The Unspoken King (2008) and the self-titled (2012),
Cryptopsy enlisted their bandmate Donaldson to helm the
production, mixing, and mastering of As Gomorrah Burns.
Dom Grimard, of Ion Dissonance fame, also came into the
production fold. McGachy says the time in the studio took
much longer than anticipated, but with Donaldson directing
and everyone finally in the same room again post-pandemic,
Cryptopsy were able to capture newfound vigor (and velocity)
on As Gomorrah Burns. Tracks such as “Godless Deceiver,” “Ill
Ender,” and “Praise the Filth” demonstrate Donaldson’s death
metal mastery.
Aggressive to a fault yet thoughtful in its entirety, As Gomorrah
Burns—with songs such as “In Abeyance,” “Flayed the Swine,”
and “Lascivious Undivine”—pierces mundanity thoroughly and
relentlessly. This is no-quarters death metal, the kind our bellicose
world needed and only Cryptopsy could deliver.