“As Gomorrah Burns” somehow does justice for the quality that fans have expected, but the question that remains is whether the new album is up to the musical standards of Cryptopsy or is just an average release. The 2023 endeavor can be categorized as an exercise in brutality and striking with reluctance by the machine-gun drumming. The opening track “Lascivious Undivine” displays the extreme aesthetic character of the band, the showmanship talent of the drummer and Christian Donaldson (guitars), Olivier Pinard (bass guitar) and, Matt McGacy (vocals) pushing boundaries with excessive intensity.

However, the modernized sound of the album and the nonstop guitar barrages are brought to the forefront in the following track “In Abeyance” which proves that the quartet adopted the extreme style of the early Cryptopsy era. The explosive tempos provide a powerful tendency of technical brutal death metal, and along the rampaging drums beats the band delivers a hefty dose of chugging guitars which are elaborated by monstrous guttural growls in the track “Godless Deceiver”. Despite the short length of the songs, Cryptopsy thrives on its past and likewise, the solos are nicely interspersed in the songs that also feature some thick and aural bass guitar lines.

The modernistic niche of the new album is propelled by hyper double bass kicking at extreme speeds, and it’s perhaps the band’s best outing to date. However, I found the vocals to be the weakest element in the album, as they mostly lean on barks and monotonous growls. “Ill Ender” offers more dynamics with a riffing technique that is laden with ridiculous amounts of chugging, this somehow leaves the songs to sound very generic. The guitar department brings more composition to the mix, with a few tremolo pickings drowning out the bass guitar.

There are some moments of the groove before the drums slam the listener into an unstoppable aural blast and sporadic blast beats. “Flayed the Swine” took me by surprise with its technical riffing and snarling vocals. The breakdowns are crucial in building grooves, the guitar on the other hand has some blackened nuances. Drummer Flo Mounier proves to be a monster behind the drum kit and his performance in the album is spectacular. The blast beats sections provide some variety in the songs. Being one of the songs that has some technical melodic segments “The Righteous Lost” pushes the dynamics to extreme levels, despite the somewhat catchier tone of the guitars the songwriting is mediocre at best.

The main issue of the new album is that Cryptopsy tries too hard to sound extreme and brutal, but fails to deliver the expected quality. The chugging sections are in abundance here, but they don’t add much to the songs, and this is to say that the musical style seems to take a more technical/modern direction. As a result, “As Gomorrah Burns” is a straightforward album that maintains the cohesion of the band in its relentless speed and fast riffing.

The ominous opening of the track “Obeisant” injects some variation in the riffing style and overall it has a sinister, brutal feel. There are some good moments in the album but in my opinion, the songwriting is uninspiring and does not match the classic brutality of old Cryptopsy. The band has gone through a major rebooting, ultimately shifting from Cryptopsy 1.0 to Cryptopsy 2.0. The final track “Praise The Filth” shows the chaotic nature of the riffing and the blasting drums that keep pulverizing the ears with the technical brutal riffing.

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