23rd October 2021

Review: “Self Titled” by Crypt Rot

Brutal Death Metal has always had a home in deepest, darkest Wales and with Venom Prison putting themselves firmly on the Global stage it gives the opportunity for a few others to crawl like termites out of the woodwork and make themselves known. One act doing exactly that is Crypt Rot, who are simply comprised of duo Kyle Shaun Thomas on vocals and multi instrumentalist Tom Hughes on guitars and bass. For their self titled debut they’ve enlisted the help of the drummer of Century Media signings Sanguisugabogg, Cody Davidson, to mix, master and reamp at Fix My Face Records in Dayton Ohio…

…The cover artwork from Gruesome Graphx accompanied by a logo from Necfrost and border art from Tom Hughes himself sets the tone for the EP and lets you know it’s going to be brutal at 30 paces. It simply reeks of it like an unwrapped blue cheese or someone’s feet smelling up the place. That’s the vibe and the asthetic that Crypt Rot are giving off and so all that is left is for them to back up the grime and gruesome gore of the low budget horror movie track list in the same way and they do exactly that with a Troma style news report that serves to introduce the full on “Gangrenous Corpse-Ridden Swamp“. Frontman Thomas brings the Brutal Slamming Death Metal vocals with a blood gargling style that makes this throat an instrument of pure destruction while the drum machine rattles away like gunfire in the distance in a wartorn land. Hughes brings a plethora of classic Death Metal riffs with an old school tone chosen to lay your ear drums to waste for a pretty timeless piece of nastiness that combines some of the classic Maryland Death Fest bands styles with the work of the likes of Incarnation. Wether the news reader introductions will continue beyond this EP remains to be seen but they actually work really well at fronting up these tracks and giving a brief moment of respite before the band dive in headlong once more. The standout here is the ripper that is “Sons Of Sam” because the riffs have that distinctive Death Metal groove to them that gives a better flow. The drum machine is pretty sympathetic for the duration but when it switches to blasts it does sound a bit flat rather than being the full onslaught one desires. All in all a tidy collection of well created tracks that scream for the duo to get a drummer and bassist on board, start playing live and throw down the odd whammy bar solo. We want more. We deserve more. So what are you waiting for? Hell wasn’t built in a day! [7/10]

Track listing