Few sensible people would dispute that CRYPTOPSY are one of the most revered, respected and influential bands in the world of death metal. The perennial problem has been that until fairly recently, it was never entirely clear which version of the band would appear at any given moment. It was fairly clear early on, when albums like “None So Vile” pushed brutality to new levels, as the rest of the genre struggled to keep up. Thereafter, the Canadians rarely sat still long enough to be shoved into a particular category. “Whisper Supremacy” and “…And Then You’ll Beg” were pioneering, tech-death milestones. “Once Was Not”, which saw the return of soil-gargling original frontman Lord Worm, was a chaotic, punishing sprawl. And who could forget the almighty furor when CRYPTOPSY assimilated some nu-metal and deathcore into their sound, for “The Unspoken King” in 2008?

When some sort of deathly normalcy returned four years later, for the criminally underrated “Cryptopsy”, it came as a relief to many of those recalcitrant (older?) fans who found the faint whiff of DEFTONES on vocalist Matt McGachy‘s first album with the band too much to take. All subsequent releases have been scrutinized as a result, but even the oldest of old-school fans must be appreciative of the music CRYPTOPSY are making today. Two years on from “As Gomorrah Burns”, their first album in a decade, drummer Flo Mounier‘s runaway bulldozer seems to have settled contentedly on a blistering, mutant strain of death metal that doubles as a pointed reminder that few, if any, come close to the sound these boys make at full pelt. “An Insatiable Violence” is as explosive, violent and technical as anything in their catalogue.

Even when they were pissing their fans off, CRYPTOPSY were always smarter than the average death metal band. “An Insatiable Violence” is unrelentingly vicious and frequently sounds like it will spin out of control and take everybody with it. But having opened the fans’ ears to the possibility that all-out brutal death isn’t necessarily the only show in town, this latest incarnation of Canada’s finest fills out rare gaps in the blasting mayhem with all manner of cunning, melodic textures. Songs like “Until There’s Nothing Left” can hardly be described as catchy, but they are a not a million miles away from it. Dark melodies, strategic dips into slower tempos, and brief flashes of stirring, windswept majesty are all grist for CRYPTOPSY‘s bloody mill. The result is songs that, at first, seem like hyper-technical onslaughts with no room for dynamics, but that on closer inspection have colorful, hidden depths.

Of course, having re-established themselves as brutal death metal’s leading protagonists, CRYPTOPSY spend the majority of “An Insatiable Violence” smashing the living shit out of everyone and everything in sight. Mercifully bereft of the subgenre’s prevailing production style, these songs are raw and chaotic but executed with the kind of intuitive ease that only the greatest musicians can achieve. Mounier‘s drumming is, as ever, insane. Meanwhile, McGachy has turned into one of extreme metal’s most commanding frontmen. Complex and bewildering, “The Art Of Emptiness” is a mind-blowing showcase for the entire band, with a versatile, career best vocal from McGachy, and a solo from guitarist Christian Donaldson that will thrill metalheads of a certain vintage. Mounier‘s partnership with bassist Olivier Pinard is simply devastating throughout. Every willful or perverse transition is delivered with jaw-dropping precision. Some of the blastbeats are genuinely hair raising. For fans of ruthless, boundary smashing brutality, this is a gift from the death metal gods.