More than three decades removed from their ungentle exhumation from the Canadian underground, Cryptopsy are truly more insatiable than ever. A year after winning a JUNO Award, the band have been reeling off cryptic teasers and blasphemous videos to feed pit-dwelling faithful ahead of their upcoming ninth album. While eerily prescient of our latest unholy obsession, An Insatiable Violence proves once more that Cryptopsy are the most vile band in death metal.
“An Insatiable Violence is as explosive, violent and technical as anything in their catalogue”, Blabbermouth says in a 8.5/10 review. “For fans of ruthless, boundary smashing brutality, this is a gift from the death metal gods”.
“Cryptopsy proves that even after decades of dominance, they remain hungry – hungry to evolve, to experiment, and to push the limits of brutal death metal”, writes Lambgoat in a 8/10 review. “Far from resting on their laurels, the band has crafted an album that feels both contemporary and timeless”.
An Insatiable Violence comes out tomorrow, Friday, June 20, but you can hear all eight brutally technical tracks today by listening to the full album stream on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
“When writing An Insatiable Violence we focused on creating a far more digestible Cryptopsy record”, the band says. “We did this by adding more groove sections, more melodic moments and allowed the musical passages to breathe a bit more than on our previous releases.
“Whatever we do nowadays, we always take extreme care to honor the band’s legacy. It is extremely important to us. But at the same time, we never want to repeat ourselves. We strive to be loyal to our sound while constantly evolving. It’s a fine balance between up-keeping the legacy and remaining relevant.
“Another huge aspect that we focused on while crafting this record was introducing a sense of dread and malaise to the songs. We wanted people to feel disoriented and dirty after listening to it.
“We are extremely proud of what we have created and can’t wait for everyone to have the chance to experience it!”
- Pre-order: https://orcd.co/cryptopsyaninsatiableviolence
- Pre-save on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/68bFcUq3E7rilegbUCwexu
Chat with Cryptopsy about their new album during next week’s Reddit AMA.
An Insatiable Violence Reddit AMA
r/Metal
Thursday, June 26 @ Noon Eastern Time
A person spends all day building a machine, only for it to torture them through the night. As if that wasn’t twisted enough, they like it. In fact, they like being tortured so much that, come morning, they wake up rejuvenated, eager to tweak the machine until it runs perfectly in their mind.
This is the nocturnal vision that inspired Cryptopsy’s ninth full-length nightmare. “The lyrical concept came from this dream I had”, the band’s vocalist Matt McGachy told Metal Injection. “The human race is the person and the machine is social media”.
An Insatiable Violence mirrors society’s toxic screen fetish. “Dead Eyes Replete” glimpses into the real life horrors of kidfluencing. “Beware the spotlight” McGachy flashes with his signature bat-like shriek just before the band slam into a career-best breakdown. But while painfully pressing, An Insatiable Violence is influenced by the many mutations that have defined the band’s Hall of Fame discography. Inspired by a mukbang gone horribly wrong, ravenous opener “The Nimis Adoration” is a smorgasbord of gut-busting blasts, Christian Donaldson’s fishhook riffs and a heavy helping of headbanging groove.
Cryptopsy recognize that not every brutal technical death metal band sticks around long enough to win a Canadian Grammy 30 years into their career. The cover for An Insatiable Violence was created by the band’s late, great vocalist Martin Lacroix, who would growl with unholy delight over the freshly fetid depths of McGachy’s false chord scream. Another former vocalist returns on “Embrace the Nihility” to stomp out any whispering doubts of his supremacy.
But despite having claimed the crown as the most vile band in death metal on only their second stab in the studio, Cryptopsy are still pushing the limits of extremity on An Insatiable Violence. The album’s lead single bumps and grinds to the oddball bounce of Olivier Pinard’s gruesome bass slaps. And yet, at its core “Until There’s Nothing Left” stakes its claim as Cryptopsy’s biggest earworm. Even Flo Mounier has honed new techniques to keep the blasphemy fresh. “We are always pushing each other”, Mounier said in a separate interview with Metal Injection. “Let’s go for a ride”. For the album’s finishing move, “Malicious Needs” slithers to a crawl before ascending like a bat into a blackened cloud of smoke.
Bow to the new vileness from extreme metal royalty.
Tracklist
1. The Nimis Adoration (4:10)
2. Until There’s Nothing Left (3:59) [WATCH]
3. Dead Eyes Replete (3:57) [WATCH]
4. Fools Last Acclaim (3:26)
5. The Art of Emptiness (4:16)
6. Our Great Deception (4:21)
7. Embrace the Nihility (3:50)
8. Malicious Needs (5:52) [WATCH]
Total runtime 32:04
“Martin did None So Live, but he never really got to do a proper album”, Cryptopsy says about the artwork for their new album. “His art is amazing. The two pieces of his that we used for An Insatiable Violence are incredible. His family was super excited about it, too. We are honored to have him be an even bigger part of Cryptopsy’s lore”.
In the wake of spreading bloodshed all over Europe with Decapitated, Cryptopsy are now fiending to feast on the new cuts from An Insatiable Violence with their ravenous fans across the U.S.
This fall, the band are joining brutal technical death metal pharaohs Nile on a 25-date tour of the East Coast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Joining them on this run are The Last Ten Seconds of Life and Cognitive.
“We are so excited to bring An Insatiable Violence to the United States. It’s a pleasure to tour amongst friends and this lineup is incredibly stacked!”, Cryptopsy says. “Our new album was written for a live setting. The songs are more brutal and grooving so that people can really latch on and bang their heads”.
Cryptopsy’s setlist for this tour will pull from the band’s latest albums while mixing in revered classics.
The Underworld Awaits Tour USA 2025
September 12 – Raleigh, NC @ Chapel of Bones [TICKETS]
September 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts [TICKETS]
September 14 – Leesburg, VA @ Tally Ho [TICKETS]
September 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Monarch [TICKETS]
September 17 – Hampton, NH @ Wally’s [TICKETS]
September 18 – Hartford, CT @ Webster Hall [TICKETS]
September 19 – Lititz, PA @ Mickey’s Black Box [TICKETS]
September 20 – Clifton, NJ @ Dingbatz [TICKETS]
September 21 – Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall [TICKETS]
September 22 – Cleveland, OH @ Mercury [TICKETS]
September 24 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary [TICKETS]
September 25 – Hobart, IN @ Hobart Art Theatre [TICKETS]
September 26 – Madison, WI @ The Annex [TICKETS]
September 27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Studio B Skyway [TICKETS]
September 28 – Belvidere, IL @ Apollo Theater [TICKETS]
September 29 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Bigs Bar [TICKETS]
October 1 – Billings, MT @ Pub Station [TICKETS]
October 3 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon [TICKETS]
October 4 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory [TICKETS]
October 5 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory [TICKETS]
October 6 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge [TICKETS]
October 7 – Denver, CO @ Oriental Theater [TICKETS]
October 9 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s* [TICKETS]
October 10 – Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s* [TICKETS]
October 11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Annex* [TICKETS]
*Nile, Cryptopsy and Cognitive only
Metalheads who are chomping at the bit for An Insatiable Violence can further their appetite by revisiting Cryptopsy’s hallowed catalogue. Since signing with Season of Mist in 2024, the band have reissued their 1993 demo Ungentle Exhumation, revered debut Blasphemy Made Flesh, the widely-worshiped None So Vile, their triumphant self-titled and The Book of Suffering Tome I + II, which is now available for the first time on one combined LP.
Order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/CryptopsyReissues
More than 30 years into their storied career, Montreal death metal innovators Cryptopsy return with their ninth studio album, An Insatiable Violence, set for release on June 20, 2025 on Season of Mist.
Revered in extreme metal circles for such groundbreaking classics as 1994’s Blasphemy Made Flesh and the 1996 magnum opus None So Vile, Cryptopsy find yet another gear on An Insatiable Violence, which further solidifies the band’s place in the upper echelon of death metal. Coming out of the pandemic, the band dedicated themselves to staying on top of their game more than ever before, with the intention of consistently putting out a new record every two years. That started with 2023’s acclaimed As Gomorrah Burns, and continues 21 months later with An Insatiable Violence.
“We had to write the majority of An Insatiable Violence while on the Death to All tour, which was something we’d never done before”, vocalist Matt McGachy says. “Flo [Mounier, drums] and Chris [Donaldson, guitar] really put their hats on. It was a feat”.
“Ever since COVID our focus is clearer, a lot of work gets done faster, and we push each other to get it done.”, Mounier says.
In addition to featuring some of the fastest passages Cryptopsy has ever recorded – keen listeners will even hear the odd gravity blast from Mounier, a rarity from the virtuoso drummer – the controlled chaos of their signature sound is offset by well-timed passages that ease off the gas pedal enough to allow listeners to come up for some air. That dynamic rage on An Insatiable Violence in turn makes the more aggressive moments hit even harder, which is immediately noticeable on the harrowing “Until There’s Nothing Left” and the chugging closing track “Malicious Needs”. Olivier Pinard anchors “Fools Last Acclaim” with stunning authority (keeping pace with Mounier is an unenviable task) while Donaldson offsets gnarly, atonal riffs with melodic passages throughout the record. “It’s a continuation of As Gomorrah Burns,” McGachy says, “We really wanted to make a groovy record, and we think we’ve done it.”
It seems as though nothing is scarier than real life right now, and An Insatiable Violence is a commentary on today’s society as though filtered through the transgressive, countercultural perspectives of J.G. Ballard and David Cronenberg.
“It all came to me in a dream in August 2023,” elaborates McGachy. “I woke up, I took my phone, and I wrote down the title of the record. It’s about a person that wakes up every day and fixes a machine. Tinkers with it, tries to make it better all day long, sweating in the sun, and then at night, they strap themself into this machine and the machine tortures them, and they love it. Then they wake up the next day and fix it again to make it more efficient, to keep harnessing it, and then just keep doing it over and over again.
While fantastically twisted, An Insatiable Violence mirrors our toxic relationship with social media. “We’re continuously trying to feed this algorithm of the machine while it’s totally tearing us apart socially and psychologically”, McGachy continues. “’The Nimis Adoration’ is about mukbang, these Korean people that eat too much food on the Internet. Piles and piles of food. A poor girl died on a live cam”.
At the center of the album is the mind-boggling percussion skill of Mounier, arguably the most imposing Canadian drummer not named Peart, who dominates such standout tracks as “Dead Eyes Replete”, “Fools Last Acclaim”, and “Embrace the Nihility”. “I look at Flo as an Olympic athlete,” says McGachy. “I want to push this guy to go a lot faster than Cryptopsy’s previous releases. We have so much more to give, and I wanted just drain it all out of him while he’s still at the top of his game, because he is. He’s crushing.”
“I mix up a lot of a physical activity, like resistance training into the drumming,” Mounier says. “I recently developed new techniques that make it easier to go even faster, so I tried to push that on this album. My focus is now more on dynamics and the touch of the snare, a certain snap of the snare, a rim shot on the snare, the toms, a light touch or a hard touch. Live, I can really let go, you know, give the sound guy a hard time,” he adds with a laugh.
For McGachy, who has always boasted a powerful, guttural death growl, the rigors of touring have enabled him to evolve as a vocalist, and he turns in a revelatory performance on An Insatiable Violence. In addition to ear-scraping screams that rival George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, McGachy unleashes the deepest, filthiest death growls of his career. “Gomorrah was the first album that I recorded with my full false chord scream, which is something that I’d only just touched on The Book of Suffering: Tome II in little sections,” he says. “We did at least 140 shows since Gomorrah. I exclusively did my false chords during all the songs that we performed on None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh. And then, when we did go into the studio for An Insatiable Violence, Chris would be like, ‘Deeper, you must go deeper!’”
Another fearsome vocalist from Cryptopsy’s lore pops back into the booth on An Insatiable Violence. “When we were recording the vocals for ‘Embrace the Nihility’, Chris had the idea of ending the song with the same vocal pattern as the end of ‘…and Then It Passes’”, McGachy remembers. “We figured if we were going to rip ourselves off, then we may as well get the real thing. We were honored that Mike DiSalvo accepted. We are all huge fans of Cryptopsy’s DiSalvo era. His vocals on this album are an ultra Easter egg for our fans”.
In addition to the effusive praise As Gomorrah Burns received from within the metal scene, the 2023 album achieved a first for Cryptopsy: earning them their first ever JUNO Award in 2024 for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year. “We had little-to-no expectations of winning” says McGachy. ”We didn’t even go to the ceremonies because we were on tour in Europe with Atheist. On the day we found out that we won, we had a crazy 18-hour drive from Derby to Germany, plus a ferry ride. But we still partied for 48 hours. Flo bought an expensive bottle of champagne”.
Cryptopsy recognize that not every death metal band sticks around long enough to win a Canadian Grammy 30 years into their career. The cover art for An Insatiable Violence was created by the late, great vocalist Martin Lacroix. “The album artwork has got to be one of the most important things to us!”, the band says. “Martin Lacroix was one of our vocalists, one of our great friends and one of the nicest people that anyone could have the privilege to meet. We really wish he was here with us to share this moment. His perfect smile would say it all! Rest in peace brother”.
With Cryptopsy’s latest career renaissance showing no signs of slowing down, the recent accolades are only the beginning. An Insatiable Violence reaches a new peak in a career loaded with them.
Lineup
Flo Mounier – Drums
Matt McGachy – Vocals
Christian Donaldson – Guitar
Oli Pinard – Bass
Recording, Mixing & Mastering Studio
Christian Donaldson’s Studio
Production, Sound & Mixing Engineer
Christian Donaldson
Guest Musicians
Mike DiSalvo performs vocals on “Embrace the Nihility”
Cover Art
Martin Lacroix
Photography
Maciej Pieloch
Biography
Adrien Begrand
Follow Cryptopsy
Bandcamp: https://cryptopsyofficial.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cryptopsyofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cryptopsyofficial/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/29PgYwTelpNl6370XLqFtN
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CryptopsyDeathMetal
BandsInTown: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/2941-cryptopsy
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