Crypticus/Scaremaker-split album

Selfmadegod

2012

Denver, Colorado's Crypticus offer up four tracks of old school death metal with some thrash undertones. It's only two guys creating all this noise and they do an admirable job of creating some intense metal. The plus side is they are relentless and do an excellent job crossing dark tones with some spine cracking riffs. There isn't much of a technical side to their, but they push hard at the style they play in. The slight downside for Crypticus is that they are not overly creative, the music can get repetitive and the vocals are average for the genre. Overall on these tracks the power wins out and I enjoyed it. Scaremaker are a newer band who have only been around for a few years, but this trio is intense. They also play death metal, but with some black metal and thrash tossed in. They contribute five songs to this split album and every track is dripping with anger and wrapped in harsh often chaotic sounds. They excel at this style and they can go from thick battering marches to blasting bursts and back again while retaining the same energy throughout. Their final track "Mansion of the macabre" is their longest at over seven minutes, but it's their most accomplished track with calculated tempo changes and a true sense of control and they build the song to it's peak. Overall a decent split disc although I was slightly more impressed by Scaremaker.