Crypts of Despair is back to vomit its blackness.
Created in 2009 in Lithuania, the band has no founding member anymore, but leans on D.A. (vocals/guitar, Luctus, ex-Sisyphean) craftsmanship, accompanied by B.J. (guitar, ex-Anomaly), S.J. (bass/vocals, Fuck Off And Die!, Luctus, Svartthron) and more recently H.M. (drums, ex-Pime) for the release of All Light Swallowed, its second album.
The album holds its name right, because in addition Néstor Ávalos’ dark illustration (Aran Angmar, Bloodbath, Churchburn, Blut Aus Nord, Cult of Fire, Valkyrja…), the band’s thick Death Metal is part of the darkest ones. A raw Old School sound shaped into hatred, decay and unholy elements that we can feel since Being – Erased, the first song. Some cymbal hits welcome us, the machine goes forth, between this impressive rhythmic, those piercing leads and the two types of unhealthy howlings. The violent Anguished Exhale also plays on this contrast between piercing screams and cavernous growls, while placing morbid and dissonant riffs, while we stay into occult melodies for Choked By The Void. The rhythmic slows down to let guitars the time to get fed by this oppressive ambience, then Condemned To Life comes back to strike us with effective and hooking riffs. Dissonant harmonics are still part of the melting, but the track is strangely accessible, in contrast to the short and intense Synergy Of Suffering. Everything in this song is made to smell pure violence, and even when rhythmic is cut, it is still strangely captivating. The Great End unveils a both terrifying and impressive ambience, on which the band comes to spread its heaviness and blackness made of sharp riffs, then Disgust grabs us by the throat again to make us sink a bit more into dissonance. The album comes near to its end with Excruciating Weight, a suffocating but still quite raw song, then it gets closed after Bleak View, an instrumental composition with terrifying ambience.
Even the daylight cannot compete against Crypts of Despair. All Light Swallowed is a repository of blackness, oppression and raw violence only a few listeners can truly appreciate its value.
85/100