Cryptik Howling - Synthetic Ascension Design
Cryptik Howling is one of those bands that, for me, falls into the “could be great, but…” section of my record collection. While album number three for this French-Canadian Melodic Black/Death Metal band shows improvement in the songwriting and in their sound, they still have issues with their production. Somebody, either in the band or their studio engineer, decided that they wanted the drums and the vocals to be the two loudest things on the LP. I’m a Metalhead. I like loud guitars. If I wanted to listen to drums, I’d listen to Rap. Cryptik Howling has a good sense for melody, but a lot of it is lost underneath the barrage of snare and bass drums. Things might have worked out okay had the drummer, Benoit Breton, played slower. Like most Death and Black Metal bands, he’s a drummer in the “blast and grind” vein. He rides the snare and double-basses most of the time. The result is that the overly loud snare sounds like a machinegun and the overly loud bass drums sound like a hyperactive kid playing with a light switch. Don’t think I’m laying the blame for all of this on him, though. Unless he was the one that demanded that the drums be super loud, this comes down to the engineer. On the plus side of the equation is that the music is definitely tighter. The guitars are nice and chunky, with a thick bottom-end that gives them heft and brutality. Cryptik Howling was much more Dimmu Borgir styled Black Metal on their previous releases, but the sound on Synthetic Ascension Design is far more Death Metal. The melodic guitar-work of Samuel Pruneau and Sebastien Gagnon is definitely spot-on where they are clearly audible (mostly when Benoit slows down) and the keyboards add plenty of atmosphere. If they can get their production issues (lower the drums, slightly lower the vocals) sorted out, their next album will fucking rule. The music is there already. They have the songs and they have the talent. They probably kick some serious ass in the live setting, too. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for their next release.
(0) Comment(s)
Page 1 of 1 pages