Cryptopsy
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Cryptopsy have nothing to prove. After emerging from the Montreal scene in the early '90s, the band quickly propelled themselves to the top of the death metal genre with a style that is incredibly tight, fast, and technical. The group's 1996 sophomore effort, None So Vile is considered one of the best death metal albums of all time. This is a band that could easily live off past glory and still collect a pay check.
After the band parted ways with frontman Lord Worm in 2007, Cryptopsy opted to push musical boundaries by recruiting 3 Mile Scream frontman Matt McGachy and old school fans immediately cried foul. The ironic part is that the music wasn't any less brutal than previous efforts. All the elements were still there: brutal growls, bombastic guitar riffs and a dizzying display of technical drumming that sounded like the soundtrack to the apocalypse. So why did fans get upset? Two words: clean vocals. The mere idea of one of death metal's premier acts embracing melody left thousands of internet savvy death metal fans wiping the flood of tears with their Carcass t-shirts.
Metal fans who were willing to listen with an open mind will discover one of the most dynamic extreme metal releases of 2008 in Cryptopsy's new album The Unspoken King. While every other band is preoccupied with musical masturbation, Cryptopsy have reinvented themselves for the new millennium using the powerful voice of new frontman Matt McGachy to maximum potential.
Cryptopsy mastermind and one of extreme metal’s best drummers, Flo Mournier sat down with Blistering.com to discuss the band’s new direction and exciting new album.
Blistering.com: At what point was it evident that you knew you had to find another singer?
Flo: Well it was sort of a mutual decision between the band and Lord Worm, where he was tired of doing some things and we wanted to try different things. We had a discussion late one night and we decided that it was time for something new and for the next record we had to find somebody new.
Blistering.com: You originally met Matt playing shows with him as the frontman for 3 Mile Scream, what was it about his performances that drew you to him as a potential frontman for Cryptopsy?
Flo: Just his professionalism and the fact that he’s a trained singer. He’s got a lot of power in his voice and when I saw him open for us with 3 Mile Scream his clean singing was dead on and the rest of the material was really brutal, so I had him come down and try out. He auditioned with “Phobophile” and “Cold Hate, Warm Blood” and he nailed them.
Blistering.com: Is it safe to say Matt will not be eating any worms on stage?
Flo: No, he won’t be eating any worms. [Laughs]
Blistering.com: I know everyone is talking about how the album features melody, but that only takes up a mere couple of minutes of the album, otherwise it's extremely brutal....
Flo: Well to me it’s all good, because at this point we don’t care what people are saying. If people have constructive criticism then sure we can take it, but if it’s just stupidity then it’s just that: stupidity. We’ve used melody in every album that we’ve done, but we’ve just never used clean singing along with it and that’s the one aspect some people like and others don’t. That’s what we wanted to do and that’s the way it was intended to be, so it doesn’t really bother me if people are freaking out about it.
Blistering.com: When you originally recorded Whisper Supremacy you must have gone through thing with fans not warm to the idea of change of any kind…
Flo: Sure. It’s harder to pin-point how big of a reaction it was then verses now, because the internet wasn’t as big back then. Even back then we had people that were split between those that liked Lord Worm and those that like Mike Disalvo. You can’t please them all ya’ know? There were even reactions when we switched back to Lord Worm again and people said, “Why didn’t you keep Mike?”
Blistering.com: I recently saw the new line-up live and Matt nailed every single one of the old songs and had amazing stage presence.
Flo: So far we’ve had a lot of people come up to us, after reading all the shit on the internet, saying they were surprised at how good Matt sounds and how well he handled the old material.
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