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Rating:
The Cryptopsy is one of those ever-evolving bands that match each release with a change of direction without diminishing the quality, which remains excellent and above average. This can be empirically proven by listening chronologically to their albums: from the debut "Blasphemy Made Flesh" to the latest "Once Was Not," differences can be noted that keep them always at the top and in step with the times. "… And Then You'll Beg" was released in 2000 and is proof of what has been said above: although the five Canadians (the line-up sees the entry of the second guitarist Alex Auburn) continue the path taken with the previous "Whisper Supremacy," they enrich their sound with new elements that make this work anything but a clone of the aforementioned. Drummer Flo Mounier demonstrates, as always, to be among the best (in my opinion THE best) in the field and further expands his technical skills: the tempos are always very fast, and there is very little room for slowdowns, but compared to the masterpieces of the past, the so-called "compound times" (i.e., times whose base is not the canonical four quarters) are making their way. To be honest, it's not an absolute novelty as Gorguts had already experimented with these rhythms in "Obscura," published two years earlier: but Cryptopsy does it with renewed brutality and without completely abandoning the solid base of Brutal Death Metal. Don't be misled by the slightly Hardcore-Punk tones of Mike DiSalvo's voice, who already succeeded the more traditional Lord Worm in "Whisper Supremacy": musically speaking, they evolve, but this doesn't mean they abandon their origins as a Death metal band. However, the guitar riffs become more refined, and the same distortion is much more "abrasive" compared to the beginnings, although it loses a bit in terms of power.
Make no mistake, we are not dealing with a disappointing or less extreme release; on the contrary, the listening is much more challenging and requires very steady nerves. Alongside very intense songs of about two minutes, like "My Prodigal Sun" or "Voice Of Unreason," we find truly lengthy sound assaults (such is the case of the concluding "Screams Go Unheard" or "We Bleed") capable of undermining even the firmness of a trained listener. Also noteworthy is the presence of a remake of a song written and published in Cryptopsy's debut EP, "Ungent Exhumation" from 1994: the song in question is "Back To the Worms" and stands out from the others for being more firmly anchored in the tradition of Death metal. As always, the bassist gives us magnificent breaks that showcase his skill but also the great compositional skills of the group. The songs are very structured, bordering on the mechanical, and make the album truly twisted and difficult to decipher: the lyrics are also cryptic (pardon the pun) and, as already done in the previous album, they leave aside the classic themes of Death metal, becoming absolutely visionary and allegorical.
In general, the whole album could be defined as allegorical: every sound, in its abstraction, is strongly imbued with meanings that can only be unraveled after many listens. The credit (even if the most uncompromising fans do not consider it such) goes entirely to the new singer who proves to be more eclectic than his predecessor and makes his mark on every song. Excellent performance also by the new guitarist, who proves to be perfectly up to par with his companions, known for being impeccable performers. The production, in line with the proposal of this disc, is very clear and clean and does not suffocate any instrument: on the contrary, it enhances all the sounds and in particular manages to enhance the guitar solos, always in line with the "melody" of the songs as per Cryptopsy tradition.
I don't rule out that this CD may not appeal to many genre enthusiasts, especially purists, because it is an unusual album: moreover, I absolutely do not recommend listening to it for those approaching this group for the first time or, even worse, to this type of music. Although it is never excessively unlistenable, "… And Then You'll Beg" is too intricate to be liked immediately, even more so if you are a novice. However, the gist does not change: the work is unusual but of high class. Innovation has a free path even at the expense of the thick darkness that characterized the works with Lord Worm (and which return menacingly in the latest "Once Was Not"). Cerebral and suitable only for connoisseurs, but with a less dark mood that places it a step below the glories of "None So Vile."
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 ...and Then It Passes (05:06)
The distance it allows at first
The change is felt through the air
The mother of nature speaks discontently
As death tends to whisper defiance
Thinks it's surprising, fully expected
Heavily unwelcomed, purposely unhidden
There to accomodate
A more sensible whiskey warmth
Had my fills of somber hearts and lost souls
Bleak ember grey, dismal drear
Catastrophic in its own simple right
Tolerance as low as low
Unfortunately cold is cold
Scold the mother whore
For shaking the season's core
Unprepared as always
Suspiciously sneaking into
Mammoth proportions
An emblem of frigid bones
And desolate hopes
The here is now
An icy adversary of a piercing sort
Wintry blue lunacy in the eyes
No choice but to hibernate
Against these skies
Biting bitterness
Bitten
Blizzard blowing
Nipping at the fine line of your neck
Horrendous glacial
Facial disfiguration
Beaten red raw by the arctic fist
Pummelled quite considerably
Frozen bricks hold the spirit down
Destined to find the elusive shelter
Set aside reclusion from the numbing mind
Winteresque barren portrait
Painted miserably white
Living Earth
Postponed in bereavement
Temporarily cessated
Untimely anytime
This unthawing persistance
Our fine feathered friends
Seem smarter than they appear
Should've scrambled to join them
On these months that are so feared
Ferocious gusts, tempestuous winds
Drifting bales, infinitized
Unbeareble haze
Trapped like a rat in a maze
Just when you thought enough was too much
For the desperate masses... and then it passes
02 We Bleed (06:18)
First the climb
Become the status
Regained sight
Undercontrolled
On a directionless path
One should be
The quiet one who would not see
Resemblance in self
And all those spawned
All in the same
Suffering sadness
Incredible truth
Justice to this madness
Remember, forget who you are
Negative and bored
And have given a little too much thought
Here today, long gone yesterday
Saw a million zombies like me
Some of whom have entered the fray
A man with nothing to lose
Will kill quicker than a wolf
Will tear your flesh
And a man with all to gain
He will do the same
Now has easily passed the threshold
We bleed
Like the rest of you pigs
We breed
Fuck like the rest of you parasites
We plead
For an end
The need
For selfishness
We bleed
Ourselves instead
Tortured
Wondering whether
The process of thinking
Duplicates itself
Mirrored by maniacal malicious intentions
Carried out with ease
We bleed
A man with nothing to lose
Has struck swifter than a snake
Displays cold survival
And a man with all to gain
He has done the same
But has never crossed the threshold
Leap across the line
Teeter back and forth
On the brink
Decide which path
You take every hour
03 Voice of Unreason (02:53)
Ossuary for the misinformed
You´d end up being amazed
At what you´d see inside
The whisps of knowledge denied
And to think that someone´s implied
It´s a better place to reside
Take that voice of unreason
Asked that question
About the chaos
That lies dormant within
Have pondered through a pond
Of useless information
Fooled, tricked
But I´m slowly coming around
Fell for it once, never again
Ignorance is bliss
For the miner of fools gold
Can´t teach a dog, that´s too old
The motherfucker´ll take a bite of the poison
Indoctrinate unfiltered lore
Teaching
Learning
Absolutely nothing
Intravenously force fed
A slave state of intelligence
Meant to break these bonds at some point
Howsabout now
The bottom line
I´ve saved you the time
Wasted on a lost cause
No longer
04 My Prodigal Sun (02:15)
Reach at the unreachable
Futile attempts
It's succumbed to its own laws
Rise and falls
Like building blocks
Pick 'em up
Knock 'em down
Another day
A different season
Hate eternal overshadows
Dispersed in clouds
My prodigal son
Returns for the sun dogs
To embelish in angelic rays
Raise our hands in anticipation
Conquest procession participation
When sweat lies and burns the eyes
Fry the river dries
Sunburn-orama drama
Accepted with open arms
Cult of fire
Sect inferno
Desperately
Long awaited arrival
05 Shroud (04:05)
We'll save your children
Follow this illuminated line
This light that's held before you
Enshrined beneath this glare
Straight eye sare
Roped in, ensnared
Lost will of yours
Slipped past you
A passing glance
Long ago
Deity like foreskin
Draped lazily over
Your dying perception
Hunted by a illusion
Doubled over in delusion
Cumshot religions
Unions of weakness
Dazed and proud
Buried under the shroud
The blessed beasts
Worshipped in droves
Disposable dogmas
Believing the bullshit
Infected
Bleed from your hands
Dismally down to your knees
With your strength relinquished by you
We prey upon your bowing form
Day dreaming, idols deceiving
Enigmatic fixation
Age of piety
Mind expansion
A mystic cloud
Dead under the shroud
07 Equivalent Equilibrium (04:17)
bare my teeth in a fit of stability
cling to level ground
balancing ability
side with the positive
more and more progressively
scale the negative mountain
always seem to loose my foothold
got enough gear
to settle in for the long run
one false move
precautions elude
tumble in the mood
never seem to gain my foothold
inconsistantly faltering between the two pales
not much chance in regulating
all systems go, red alert behavior
humanistic insfictincts
the other's demonic
stranglehold and bold
up front, within the contact of
devils amongst angels
running' all through ya
despite strong intentions
bi-polar reflux
to the natural
knock for hilarious maleficence
fireless negotiating
war infernal, duo eternal
tumultuos disorder
equivalent equilibrium
drop zone efficiency
control rate zero
rotous in all aspects
unhealthy malaise
human demon
berserker balistically
beset the sane mind
Behemoth unleashed
orovaked, irreversable
a product from this perishable life
08 Back to the Worms (03:18)
imagine every living thing
forever accompanied
by an alter dimensional being
phantom pain brought on by
the wounding of each individual's
extracorporeal entity
in this violent day and age
we greatly fear their coming rage
what technology has done
forced apart what once was one
electropsychic and highly psychotic
as, unlike an aura, it thinks for itself
inseparable in schizoid existence
once inexorably linked with our own
relationship of symbiotic nature
unbeknownst to human half of dual creature
as the phantom empaths whose pain is intense
learn from the cold voice of experience
mass exodus in an invisible flood
externalization spills torrents of a blood
man has ended his three-dimensional term
they came from the worms
let them go back to the worms
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