Style: Thrash metal, progressive metal, black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Vektor, Coroner, Hellripper, Warbringer
Country: Netherlands
Release date: 7 March 2025
After splitting an EP with progressive thrash legends Vektor, Cryptosis burst onto the scene in 2021 with its debut full-length effort, Bionic Swarm.1 The album unleashed thirty-seven minutes of balls-to-the-wall, technical thrash. There were some hints of the band’s status as relative neophytes—Bionic Swarm felt a little one-speed, lacking versatility in composition and staying within a narrow sonic range—but on the whole, Cryptosis had wrought a distinctive sound and positioned itself among the genre’s upper echelon.
Having enjoyed the debut and believing that its sound still had plenty of room to develop, I made a mental note to keep an eye out for the band’s next release. I then totally missed a 2023 EP,2 confirming that mental notes are useless, and stumbled upon Cryptosis again recently after news of Celestial Death, the band’s sophomore LP. My personal wishlist for the release (perhaps not a fair thing to impose) centered on expanded songwriting: I wanted rhythmic variety, more texture or atmosphere, and further exploration in song structure—essentially, some compositional meat on those tech-thrash bones. Although the debut was rock solid, I felt Cryptosis was capable of something more epic. Would Celestial Death avoid the dreaded sophomore slump and deliver?
After an obligatory opening minute of instrumental ambiance,3 Cryptosis launches into “Faceless Matter” with the same frenetic style as the last album—except within about thirty seconds it’s apparent that the band has turned the volume up on the mellotron and synth and leaned heavily into atmospherics. The sound is overtly blackened, with some combination of synth, mellotron, and choral effects featured prominently, even taking a lead role in the verse. Minutes later, the band slows things down in a short bridge, followed by a melodic guitar lead soaring over thrashy drumming. Everything is recognizably Cryptosis, but the sound is larger and more dynamic than before—it seems the wishes on my list are being granted.
Celestial Death’s biggest evolution comes in how heavily black metal is woven throughout. “Static Horizon” and “The Silent Call” are just as black as they are thrash, featuring brooding atmospheric passages and biting tremolo riffs—and “Absent Presence” might not be categorizable as thrash at all, with sections drenched in something bordering on ambient black metal. Meanwhile, much of “Ascending,” a standout track, wouldn’t be too out of place on a middle-era Enslaved record, and an instrumental track closes the album with a melodic-black feel. This massive infusion of black metal only hinted at in Bionic Swarm is executed well and broadens Celestial Death’s sonic scope tremendously.
But fans of Cryptosis’s brand of thrash fear not: you can put on that old sleeveless band tee and battle jacket. “Reign of Infinite” and “In Between Realities” bring as much energy as the debut album, as does the especially techy “Cryptosphere.” And there’s no shortage of fiery riffing amidst the darker, synth and mellotron-led passages—even if the guitars rely more on tremolos this time around. The bass continues to punch with sharp licks, the raspy vocals continue to growl through expectedly sci-fi lyrics, and the drums continue to rip. The drumming on “Ascending” is particularly slick, quickly trading off between the hi-hat and ride in a way that complements the guitar’s melodic tremolo picking and delivering nasty fills every few bars. While Celestial Death is more atmospheric and better-paced than its predecessor, it’s still an incredibly aggressive record.
Celestial Death, however, doesn’t quite have the matching shift in production to fit Cryptosis’s stylistic expansion. Like Bionic Swarm, every instrument is loud and pushed toward the front, a technique that better fits the rawer debut. To be sure, Celestial Death still sounds clear and powerful; it can be just a little loud and overwhelming in sections where each instrument is playing full bore. Otherwise, there’s not much to nit-pick here—the album might not offer anything truly transcendent, and like much thrash, the vocals can be a tad repetitive in tone and delivery, particularly during choruses (“Cryptosphere” as an example). A touch of vocal variety would have helped expand the band’s sound that extra bit further.
In the four years intervening between Cryptosis’s rookie and sophomore efforts, the band has matured, channeling its exuberance into a product with greater compositional and sonic depth. Many feel that modern thrash lacks intrigue, and Celestial Death injects the genre with a blackened tech variety that’s robust enough to rise above most of the scene. And still, I’d bet on Cryptosis continuing on an upward trajectory and delivering something even more ambitious next release. Rather than leave it to a mental note, I’ll write it down this time: Cryptosis is one to continue to watch.
Recommended tracks: Ascending, Reign of Infinite, In Between Realities
You may also like: Demoniac, Paranorm, VENUS
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Century Media Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Cryptosis is:
– Frank te Riet (bass, mellotron, synthesizers, backing vocals)
– Marco Prij (drums)
– Laurens Houvast (vocals, guitars, spoken words)
- Although Bionic Swarm was Cryptosis’s debut LP, the same three members had released two albums without much fanfare as a self-described old-school thrash act named Distillator. After drifting away from typical thrash and honing its own style, the band changed its name and, shortly after signing with Century Media Records, released Bionic Swarm as the first full-length album of a new band. ↩︎
- After listening to this EP recently, it turns out I didn’t miss too much: two new tracks, and two live ones. The first new track, “The Silent Call,” did signal the band’s heavier shift into black metal discussed below, and a version of it appears on the new album. ↩︎
- Every thrash or tech album I’ve reviewed in the last couple of months—those by Exuvial, Synaptic, HARP, and now Cryptosis—has begun this way, as do too many others. It’s not an offensive way to start an album and provides something to walk out to at live performances, but in my opinion it rarely adds any value and has become trite. In my world as a corporate schlub, it’s the equivalent of an email that begins with the phrase: “I hope this email finds you well.” ↩︎
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