Forming in the not-so-grim city of Brisbane in 1994, was one of the best Australian death metal bands; alongside countless acts such as the mighty Abremelin and Damaged. They went by the name of Crypt, and I remember the first time I ever heard their track Twisted And Demented off a compilation CD I had won from Triples J’s ‘The Racket’ which was hosted by Costa Zouliou at the time. It had that rawness that you only get from Aussie metal and once I saw EVP Recordings were vamping up the releases of the lads, I jumped onto the opportunity to review like a kangaroo jumping onto a moving car. Crypt makes ‘The Walking Dead’ look like a walk in the Park as there is no way to describe their music other than ‘Disgusting Zombie Metal’.
It doesn’t get any rawer than on The Excruciating Agony Demo heard on Disc 1 with the opening track, Deceased. Long-time drummer Allan Bennett is an absolute beast behind the kit. The pummeling bass of Cliff Young particularly on Torture is electrifying, saying the least. Apart from the live tracks and rehearsals, the infamous Crypt EP; on Disc 2, is spruced up and the 2016 mix sounds amazing right from the get-go with opening track Zombified. The vocals on display by front man Grant Martin are enough for the die-hard Cannibal Corpse fan to ‘Cum Blood’. ‘The Undead’ and ‘Torture’ are standouts. Blast beats are aplenty, along with death growls that surely have awoken the dead sometime since 1994.
The third and final disc breathe new life to the El Nino LP with opening track ‘Explosion’ doing just that. The bone crushing riffs of Nathan Pilch explode through your speakers and the frantic bass galloping along to the break-neck speed of the intense drumming gives the fellow headbanger a workout. ‘Twisted and Demented’ probably due to its significance as discussed earlier is my favourite song on the record and favourite all round Crypt song. There are no fillers. With songs like the squeal-laden Outer Space and the thrashing, Bubonic Experiment, you will find yourself in Death.
