20th July 2023

Exclusive Interview: Kryptess talk “One Girl One Thousand Lacerations”!

Formed from the ashes of Cacodaemonic and riding high on a lyrical narrative about a serial killer nurse, the debut EP from Nottingham trio Kryptess, the cunningly titled “One Girl One Thousand Lacerations“, is very much still ringing in our eardrums. A demonstration of evil good fun and skull busting rhythmic battery, it is frontloaded with material tried, tested and proved in the live arena before being committed to tape. That finally happened in sessions at Second Star Audio with Jakk ‘Noise Goblin’ Perkins (Evil Scarecrow) and Ali ‘Super Deathwing’ Harris and so enabled us to spark a conversation with guitarist Tom Else about how they came to be…

What makes two former members of Cacodaemonic want to form a new Blackened Death Metal outfit in Kryptess? Did you feel like you had unfinished business or do you simply love the adrenaline of the live shows? “For me it’s a bit of both. I feel that with Cacodaemonic we never realised the potential of that band. Covid put an end to that band but we love playing and wanted to create something that we could really enjoy”

You’ve spent a year or so on the live circuit, cutting your teeth and refining these songs, notably supporting Gamma Bomb. What made you hold off the release of the EP until now? Do you have more material waiting in the wings to be committed to tape? “The best thing about being in a band to me is playing live shows, so we wanted to get out and gig as soon as possible. We want to be known as a solid live band so that has been the focus, but we also wanted to take our time with the EP, not only with the songs themselves but with the recording quality too. We do have more material that hasn’t been recorded yet which we are playing live so if you want to hear them you have to come and see us live”

What made you go with the low budget horror film aesthetic? What are your favourite horror films? “Horror films and metal have been linked together for a long time and it just fits with the style that we are going for. Elloise’s lyrics are based around her serial killer nurse character and so we wanted to show that in the artwork with a lot of inspiration from gorey death metal artwork such as Cannibal Corpse. In regards to horror films, I’m quite a fan of old school horror, films like Evil Dead 2, Hellraiser, The Thing and The Exorcist”

If we are made up of our genes and our influences, what is in your jeans and who would you consider your influences? “Personally, a lot of my influences for this band come from groove metal bands like Machine Head, Lamb Of God and Devil Driver but we do take a lot of influence from the Florida death metal scene too, bands like Death, Obituary and Cannibal Corpse. Between us we listen to a wide range if metal which helps us to bring different ideas to the band so hopefully we can stand out”

In fantasy land it’s 2027 and Metal Hammer Magazine reaches out to you for a contribution to 40 Years of Tampa Florida Death Metal veterans Deicide. What would you choose to cover? “One of the first Deicide songs I heard was “In The Mind Of Evil” and I just love the groove to it. The riffs are catchy and the vocals and drumming is brutal so I’d love to cover that track at some point”

What’s next for Kryptess? “Now that the EP is out, we’re hoping to raise our profile and get out there more. We’ve got a lot of shows booked up until the end of the year so we’ll continue to hone our live show and see where it takes us. We’re also going to keep writing new material with the hope of recording again next year”

Catch Kryptess live…

03/08 – Leicester, Duffy’s Bar
08/08 – Northwich, The Old Salty Dog
06/10 – Nottingham, The Salutations Inn
10/11 – Leicester, Duffy’s Bar
24/11 – Rotherham, The Hive