Review: “Necrotizing Omnipotence” by Crypt Watcher

After walking into the recording studio like it was a confessional and admitting to several crimes against the dead, the dying and the damned with debut EP “Under The Cemetery“, multi instrumentalist and vocalist Taylor Hoffman returns with “Necrotizing Omnipotence“. The second instalment from his Crypt Watcher project finds him emerging from the Hellish abyss of Ann Arbor, Michigan once more with thoughts of brutality, despair, and grime from beyond the confines of space and time on his mind…

Descending into madness with barbed, urgent, menacing and sinister riffs “Orbital Tomb” drives a silver steak through the vampires heart with a blood-lust as Hoffman demonstrates his death growled vocals have grown in strength and stature since the first record. Sonically its as if he has taken a wrench and tightened up all the bolts of the machine because everything sounds more refined, from the dissonant guitars of the introduction to the powerful percussive battery. The vocals are fierce enough to sandblast the skin while the riffs and blast beats inflict their damage like a box full of sharp objects poured on an unsuspecting victim. There is a new energy too that gets the adrenaline flowing as Hoffman explores a darker space with “Into the Void“, the sheer violence of the sonic assault on the senses an invigorating and revitalising experience. The lead guitars add a bit of stardust before the pummelling of the final verse and by the end it’s a pulsating bloody mess that shines. Title track “Necrotizing Omnipotence” has some riffs that take us back to the black album by Chimaira, the 96 second instrumental as majestic a moment as the elevator scene from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. “Watcher Beyond the Veil” sees some serious dents put into the china cymbals, Hoffman reaching bowel clenching new lows vocally as the razor sharp riffs cleave flesh from bone. A distinctive step forward from last years “Under The Cemetery” which is a scorcher of a record in its own right, “Necrotizing Omnipotence” is one that you really need to hear [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Orbital Tomb
2. Into the Void
3. Necrotizing Omnipotence
4. Watcher Beyond the Veil

“Necrotizing Omnipotence” by Crypt Watcher is out 30th January 2026 and is available over at bandcamp