It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with Cryptic Void’s Into the Desert Temple.
For a lot of people, I’m probably not covering anything new here. Even if you’re a casual grindcore listener, you should have seen this flash by in your Facebook or by word of mouth, or something. Really, the Gulf Coast crushers (a.k.a.: Huston, TX) have been putting out releases since 2015, though not by the dozen. However, each and every release has been top-notch grind, and Into the Desert Temple is no exception.
I almost featured this band a few weeks back, and now I’m glad I waited. Into the Desert Temple is Cryptic Void’s first full-length. It features tracks from Wasteland, if that makes any difference to listeners that haven’t checked out the album yet. So, expect familiar blasts. But that’s just technical details, now isn’t it? That doesn’t keep this from being fucking awesome. Anytime Cryptic Void put out material is a cause for blasting celebration.
Something that’s not immediately made apparent, and perhaps because the band encourages discovery (ßhypothetical), is that Into the Desert Temple is a concept album. The first two tracks simply introduce you to the world of barren horrors that await. The album weaves something Lovecraftian/Stargate-y. A madness that is reminisce of the film In the Mouth of Madness (perhaps from Sutter Cain’s perspective), the novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and pieces of the alien, paranoid Whisperer in the Darkness. Just as a concept, this is album is awesome.
But let’s talk about the music itself. It’s top notch, PhD grind. The kind of thing you’d hear from P.L.F. (expect a feature on them soon), Kill the Client, or Brutal Truth with a touch of Insect Warfare. The recording is just so damn heavy. Cryptic Void manage to build a mood with one strum on the guitar. A little ring and then the band is off with “Wasteland I” followed quickly by “Wasteland II.” See, the madness may linger but the songs don’t stick around for long. Two tracks in less than two-minutes.
Cryptic Void is loud, let’s not mince words here, but they’re also methodical. Tracks aren’t trying to out blast each other. “The Realm of Abstraction” is a great example of a track that hits like a battering ram, but it also breaks itself up and gets moody. Meanwhile, “The Morbid Chamber” kicks things off with a funky little lead that transitions into a trumpeting blast. It’s the little things that Cryptic Void pull off so well. There’s a whammy slam on “Beyond the Sphere” that grinders might look twice at. But it adds to the mood. It kicks up that sci-fi/horror theme that is already so prevalent.
There have been a few grind releases that have come out this year that you absolutely should be into by now. Cryptic Void is ranking really, really high on that list. Every time I spin this it only gets better, and the sci-fi/horror concept is only adding to the greatness. Into the Desert Temple is short and brutish by life. And while you may lose your mind in the process, it kicks some serious ass.
I'm grinding here.
