Cryptopsy: Whisper Supremacy (1998)

I have talked before about my reservations about checking out anything by Cryptopsy that did not feature Lord Worm on vocals.  I got into the band through Blasphemy Made Flesh followed by None So Vile, two absolute classics in the brutal death metal genre.  I simply could not fathom anything by the band being worthwhile without Lord Worm's guttural, gurgling vocal style.  And so it took a long time before I checked out anything without him.  Now that I have, I have decided to go back to the Mike DiSalvo era, which many death metal fans claim is even better than the Lord Worm era. 

This album is considered a classic by a great many people.  I do love the cover art, and always have.  It is easy to see why this album is so highly regarded.  Even though the band is mostly the same, apart from the vocal change, it is clear that the musicianship has improved by leaps and bounds.  No longer content with being incredibly brutal for brutality's sake, there is more of a method to the madness. 

Cryptopsy has always been a fairly technical band, but the technicality has really taken a step forward here.  Flo Mounier is one of the most virtuosic drummers this side of Tomas Haake, and it shows on this release.  The band has also added a second guitarist and two complement each other well.  It allows for a more dynamic sound and more solos.  Overall, this is a cleaner, more technically-proficient sound, but not lacking in brutality.

I do have to discuss the vocals, because that was the number one reason that I had not checked out this album before.  DiSalvo's vocal style is intense and his growls work well with the brutality of the instrumentation, though they are nowhere near as savage and ferocious as Lord Worm's.  I will say, it is much easier to tell what DiSalvo is saying, I am not sure Lord Worm was saying half of what the lyric sheets said he was, while DiSalvo's growls are actually comprehensible.  Still, I do prefer Lord Worm. 

This is a damn good album.  I still do not think it comes close to Cryptopsy's first two albums, though I do think I prefer it to Lord Worm's comeback album Once was Not.  So, maybe third favorite Cryptopsy album?  That sounds about right.