ALBUM REVIEW: CRYPT ROT - AN ANCIENT SUMMONING

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW AND A BRUTAL DEBUT

The first album review of 2023 has been languishing for a while and goes to Crypt Rot from Wales who released their debut long player, An Ancient Summoning, late last year. The band name, album title and sleeve art all scream at you that this is yet another Autopsy nostalgia trip (and there are plenty out there) but it isn’t that. Despite the old school aesthetics, Crypt Rot cough up a modern slamming excretion of death metal.

Let’s be clear this is not Brit Awards material and Crypt Rot is in the pits of underground uneasy listening. Thus, the sound is intentionally low-fi with an urban derelict vibe especially with the gutsy, propulsive percussion delivery with its hyper-active blast beats and oil barrel style industrial snare punishment. The demented warthog vocals from Kyle Shaun Thomas must be near the lowest possible register for a human to produce and not a single feral word is intelligible. Taking cues perhaps from the breeze block riffs of early Dying Fetus the guitar work uses concrete chugging bludgeon with occasional elements of tinny DIY grindcore. This particular style can often be prone to repetitiveness and become monolithic over the course of an entire record (even a short one). The band, however, seem to have the significant benefit of self-awareness and thereby incorporate some gear changes and variation buried in the din. Away from the piledriving breakdowns and slab riffs the likes of the title track or One Thousand Serpent Tongues throw up creepy lingering Autopsy hooklines while Arcane Rites has a turbulent solo that erupts like a morbid geyser.

Crypt Rot create a racket that is short, sharp and nasty. Everyone knows albums like these are at their optimum when compact and the band keep this to a sensible run-time. An Ancient Summoning isn’t original and wasn’t intended to be, but has a certain underground attitude that established bands often struggle to rekindle later in their careers. It is a noisy record that might just appeal to enough old school DM classicists but also has enough slam qualities to evoke the sweaty mayhem of a basement gig where there are baseball caps and roundhouse kicks. If you need a quick hit of aggro DM for the winter months, then these noisy blokes from Wales have just the thing for you.

Check out Crypt Rot here: https://cryptrot.bandcamp.com/album/an-ancient-summoning