Cryptopsy
Once Was Not

THE REVIEW

What I am about to review is one of the most discussed and contested albums of the past year in the metal scene. Therefore, it will be difficult to please everyone; in fact, I believe most of you will disagree with me.

The album was released in 2005, after exactly five years of inactivity of the band (if you don't count the 2003 Live): after such a long period of absence, some expected a big comeback while others foresaw a major disappointment. In particular, the departure of founding guitarist Jonhatan Levasseur and the return to the microphone of Lord Worm, whose singing is much more anchored to the genre's canons than that of his predecessor Mike Di Salvo, had raised quite a few doubts.

Already on the first listen, you can notice that the sound has changed again and the album is very different from the last “…And Then You’ll Beg”. Incredible but true, the skill of the already monstrous drummer has further improved. He manages to sustain truly inhuman tempos, enlivened by a unique personality and originality: not just the classic Blast Beats, but much more is what this drummer, whose technical abilities have been matched by few, offers us. The guitarist who remained after Levasseur's departure proves to be not only very capable and up to the group's standards but also a precise and technically excellent performer: however, in the next work, he will face the most difficult test, which is composition (the guitar parts for “Once Was Not” were already written by the departed guitarist). It's impossible not to mention the bassist, one of the few players of this instrument who manages to stand out with wonderful breaks in a tightly knit genre like Brutal Death. But the most contested point of the entire CD is the return of the old singer: what can I say, certainly his voice is no longer what it was ten years ago (I would like to point out to the more "ruthless" that he is now forty) and that the extraordinary performance of “None So Vile” is now a distant thing. However, his growls are still good, and if there is anything to blame him for, it's his screaming, which is unconvincing and evidently tired.

The eleven songs that make up this album are varied and incredibly intricate: the guitar riffs intersect with each other and with the bass lines, forming a dense and schizophrenic web, exacerbated by the insanely fast drumming and the illogical tempos I mentioned earlier. It can be said that the new sound coined by the band in this album is a blend between the detached and lucid madness of the two albums under Di Salvo and the dark and enveloping feeling of the early LPs “Blasphemy Made Flesh” and “None So Vile”: however, it lacks the rarified atmospheres of the more recent works and the morbid charm of the past ones. In short, despite reality, it seems like a somewhat immature band, still indecisive about the path to follow, influenced by the purest and most uncompromising Brutal, which they carry forward in its essential lines, but also deeply attracted by various experimental ventures: hence the reason for the typically jazz pieces and others performed with acoustic guitar that they insert in the middle of the songs on this CD (not to mention the presence of two instrumental pieces with an Eastern European flavor, a complete novelty for the Canadian band).

A note of merit goes to the lyrics, a sort of return to the origins for impact and the emotions they evoke, but finally adapted to serious themes and outside the clichés of the genre. The production proves once again to be at the height of these guys' talents: clean but still not too empty or inadequate for a work of this musical genre.
What I find lacking in this CD is the mood, which presents a profound rift between the lyrics and the music: it only takes listening to their previous (master)works to understand that while the instrumentalists are still projected, compositionally and attitudinally, into the experimentations prior to Lord Worm's "homecoming," the latter is more oriented towards the uncompromising Brutal, of which he was a standard-bearer.
I believe Cryptopsy will have to overcome these internal discrepancies if they want to regain the favor of all their fans and turn their proposal into not just a good idea, but a complete and perfect work as in the past.

As far as I'm concerned, I consider “Once Was Not” an excellent effort far from disappointing, which highlights the above-average abilities of this group, once again placing them at the top of the Brutal Death scene. The meticulous composition, exquisite technique, and yet another evolution earn this CD the highest marks; however, while a neophyte fan will be amazed and delighted, veteran fans will have the right and duty to desire more.