Cryptdweller – Inevitable Obliteration

May 2019 – Unsigned

Inevitable Obliteration is modern death metal done right. Paying respects to its predecessors by virtue of its pure vigor, it's got influences from some of the biggest acts their country has to offer, namely Suffocation and more recent Devourment. North Carolina looks barren in the death metal department for a newcomer, so here's to Cryptdweller carving their state's name into the extreme metal monolith.

With a timbre sometimes similar to Aekerfeldt on Resurrection Through Carnage and the clearest enunciation I've heard in a long time, it's no surprise the vocals were the first element that held my attention. Belching blasphemy with a sharp, harsh tone without resorting to the cheap tricks of guttural ranges and squeals is a sign of what's to come – no-nonsense death metal that plays by the rules, and plays well. Pounds of Flesh has the heaviest intro written this year, using what seems to be Cryptdweller's favourite tool, the octave chord. It's one of the secrets behind some of the best modern riffs, turning your average power chord dragging section into the heavy footsteps of marching legions, stomping their way to a violent death. The exemplary mixing job gives all the necessary oomph to the guitars and reinforces the already chunky grooves by giving both clarity and bite. While the vocal mix does seems a little high, I feel it's due to just how uncharacteristically comprehensible the hateful snarls are.

Some songs display certain influences more than others – Inevitable Obliteration sounds like an unreleased track off Conceived in Sewage by Devourment, with that “beatdown-tinged death metal” aesthetic, most audible around the minute mark as a quasi-slam appears. Vile Nexus has more elements attributed to Suffocation, with the weird and ever-popular chromatic single note patterns. The only complaint to be made is a backhanded compliment – with half of the tracks at under three minutes, it feels some ideas couldn't reach their full potential, the cut-off lead at the end of Pounds of Flesh is a great example, promising a slowdown into the tortured soundscapes of atonal and strange solos but petering out before anything came of it. Outside of the undue brevity here and there, Inevitable Obliteration is the work of excellent musicians, both creatively and technically, with a deep understanding of what makes death metal, death metal.

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