14th March 2022

Review: “Celestial Extinction” by Cryptivore

Five years on from a debut demo “Unseen Divinity” which was later reissued by Blood Harvest the return of Chris Anning with a full length debut album from his Brisbane Australian Old School Death Metal project Cryptivore is one the slots into the highly anticipated category with ease. From the inception of the project in 2015 Anning has pushed boundaries while keeping the fundamentals and ideals of his genre of choice intact, never afraid to mix the fury of brutal Death Metal riffs with the bile and vitriol of Grindcore while taking influence from the early days of Amorphis and Carcass, Rottrevore and Grave…

…and with those influences you can probably use your imagination and work out what Chris Anning has in store for us with “Celestial Extinction“, except here’s the thing. As good as that demo remains, it’s simply an amuse bouche for what Cryptivore sounds like now, the new album an evolution that shows incredible growth, maturity and development in all aspects of the Anning’s craftsmanship. So while the sound of “Celestial Extinction” is still deeply rooted in Old School Death Metal but there is so much more to this burnt offering, the five years of hard work forging this half an hour of power have been very well spent. Heavier than a grand piano and striking with more impact than the instrument landing on your skull as if falling from the 30th floor of an apartment building you just so happened to be passing. It’s as intense as the flames of hell itself, as fierce as the demons that guard it’s very gates, as raw as sandblasted skin and as visceral as they come. Short and razor sharp, only the title track surpasses the 210 second mark, Anning’s mastery of frenetic chaos knowing now bounds. The Death Thrash inspired “Cocoon Hetacomb” gets the party started with some serious heat and thunderous percussive pounding. The transitions and tempo changes are as slick as they come and then you have the broadening on the horizons with the leads of “Vault of Obscurity” inspired by Melodic Death Metal which are just incredible. There are also Thrash inspired moments like the whammy bar drop and sinister riffs of “The Ethereal Deceased” with Anning brining to mind the likes of Skeletal Remains with his powerhouse creations. This album sends shivers down the spine like the finest of physiological horror films and Anning deserves very high praise for creating this Frankenstian Monster [8/10]

Track listing