Customer Reviews

Whisper Supremacy

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rarely do I come across an album that is astonishing in the pure speed, baffling with in it's time signatures and rhythms, mind-numbing in it's complexity, creative in it's songwriting, but at the very same time, makes me want to rip someone's face off.

To call this a death metal album hardly seems to do it justice, being that most death metal is dominated with monotonous growls, lame, masterbatory speed strumming, and recycled drum beats.

This album, although fits under the genre of "death metal", hardly fits any of the traits I listed above.

Drums: What words come to mind when hearing Flo's drumming on this album? Fast, intricate, genius, creative, but that does not even begin to describe it. He is all over his set every second of the album, there are no "down" or "mellow" parts to this album, there are only a couple seconds in which you are able to breathe before you are pummeled to death with a furious double bass, hyper blast beats, and spastic fills. His parts are unlike anything I've ever heard. His double bass rhythms are fast and complex, his fills are frequent and unpredictable, he utilizes odd jazzy drum parts that somehow fit in perfectly and his blast beats are the equalvilant to being shot with an M16. You can not go more than ten seconds listening to this album without hearing something either insanely fast or creative and complicated.

Guitar: Never have I heard the entire fretboard of a guitar be so badly abused. The dual guitar assault on this is relentless. Alex Auburn and Jon Levasseur churnout crushing riffs that dance all over the fretboard and keep up with Flo perfectly, the solos compliment the songs well, and are extremely well thought out, even though there are more moshy parts occasionally, and sometimes semi-melodic parts, the guitar parts NEVER go weak on this album.

Bass: Rarely can you find a bassist that can keep up with a great guitarist. But this is one of the many novelties found on this album. Eric can keep up with these fast punishing riffs, and even throws in a couple slap bass parts.

Sounds like a great album doesn't it? But wait, there's more.

Mike Disalvo is a brutal, rapid, unique, and creative voice, he fits the band perfectly. His somewhat abstract lyrics are wrapped in a brutal growl (that isn't retardedly low), that shifts harshness and pitch somewhat subtely, while adding an extra layer of complex rhythms over the already insanely technical music.

Overall song-writing: You usually never hear a band go through so many riffs in a single song, and go through so many speeds. At first listen, these riffs may seem randomly thrown together, but if you listen to the album about 30 times, (that's how complicated it is), you start to see how ingeniously these songs were written and put together. For instance, on White Worms (one of my favorites of the album), all the madness stops for one moment, Mike let's loose a brutal low scream as it suddenly goes into a breakdownish part, only to pick back up into a hyper blast part.

There are so many other parts on the album, I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how genious this album is, but you have to hear it to believe it.

If you consider yourself a fan of anything heavy or technical, there is NO reason why you shouldn't buy this album.

Well, were do I start? I have listened to death metal since the first albums came out by Death and Morbid Angel. I have always looked for new bands who are "pushing the envelope of death metal". Death metal reached it's technical high point with the release of Suffocation's "Pierced From Within". Pretty much everything after that album did not bring any new developments into the death metal scene until this album. This album brought a level of technical ability, unknown speed and the added element of complete controlled CHOAS. The number of time changes and odd time signatures is mind blowing. Unlike most death metal drummers who have taken Morbid Angel drum technics and mainly play 3 or 4 speeds Flo(drummer) has taken the profiency of a jazz drummer mixed it up like a mad man and introduced hyper speed. The guitars are also insane with constant fret movement that makes you feel like you have just consumed 5 pots of coffee. The production is well balanced so all instuments are heard. The vocalist sounds like a man possessed. It is amazing to think they recorded this album in June of 1998. Since then we have had a few hyperblast releases by band such as Angelcorpse, Hate Eternal and Krisiun to name a few. All of these albums were very fast but all were sped up old school(Morbid Angelish) death metal. Cryptopsy will be going into the studio soon to record the follow-up to this album. I am quite confident it will (again) be the most brutal album ever. I give this album a 5(and overall most brutal album to date) but I do have a few bone to pick with it. The bass could be a little more up in the mix. This would add some bottom end, which is lacking, to the production. The vocalist could add a little more range to his vocals and the lead guitarist needs to speed up his solos to the level of Angelcorpse or Krisiun's lead guitarists. BUYER BEWARE: Buy this album only if you are into EXTREME EXTREME DEATH METAL.

Death metal is mostly useless to me. Most of the bands seem to get their priorities backwards and rather than using musicality to further their brutality, they try too hard to be as brutal as possible but fail because of poor starting points like straight-up mediocrity or too much image. Generally, grindcore out-brutalizes death metal in every way and tends towards more sonic profundity. Bands like Cannibal Corpse are so ridiculous that you might as well send them back to the jungle, where they belong with the other monkeys. HOWEVER, some death metal bands, like Cryptopsy, raise the bar for their genre by several notches and stand alone as impressive groups.

Quite simply, Cryptopsy is an onslaught. Superkinetically fast, relentlessly punishing, stomach-churningly brutal and in the end nigh fatal. There are no reprieves, each song is being one crushing assault after another, with a melodic riff or solo phrase here and there. And yet behind that seemingly impenetrable wall of homogenous, black, spiky noise (a consequence of the production style) is deceptive complexity that makes each song distinctive and interesting. This is an impressive roster of musicians with chops to spare, the first among equals being the exhausting Flo Mournier, the king of devastating hyper-blastbeats (one has to at least admire his _endurance_!). The four instrumentalists grapple the fractured portions of their shrapnel deluge and connect them into a tight unit of clockwork precision, rife with integrated polyrhythms, breakneck metrical displacements, and wacky meters. Roaring through it all is the blood-spewing vocalist Mike DiSalvo (cool metal name, but not as cool as "Lord Worm," eh?), whose voice fits the proceedings nicely. One of the most interesting attributes of Cryptopsy is how they get MORE brutal with more listening. Instead of "getting used to" the music, the closer I listen the more it becomes apparent just _how_ that brutality is crafted. greater comprehension = greater brutality!

Why only four stars? I must admit I don't like this album as much as many other people do. On the whole I think _None So Vile_ is a more musically successful album than this one. Perhaps Cryptopsy's bag of tricks is a little on the limited side (on this album anyway), and they lack the sheer power and sonic force that would put them up on the next level (might be that fuzzy production). I haven't heard their other albums, although I am interested in doing so. Cryptopsy is a band well above the dull majority of their death metal peers.

My view of death metal is still shaky. A lot of it is extreme rock with caveman vocals and meatbeats, with the sole intent of brutality, hardly a worthy cause for making music. There will always be a heavier band, a faster band, a band that is more underground. Why try to outdo everyone else? Why write disgusting lyrics? Why create anti-music?

Well, that was very 'devil's advocate' of me, because this album seems to do all of those things. It raised the bar on heaviness, technicality, and over-the-top brutality. Why would I give this a positive review?

Simply, because it succeeded in a way I would have never thought possible. It, along with landmark releases by Gorguts, Suffocation, Origin, and others, proved to me that death metal has value.

There is a point where music becomes so difficult to play that it is irreplicable. It is one of a kind, a secret of its creators. A landmark. A mark of true originality. That is what death metal must achieve to become worthwhile, to me anyway. Morbid Angel's guitar pyrotechnics and repetitive drumming hardly impress me. Obituary's bleeeearghugh vocals and sloppy-sounding slow groove are boring. Cannibal Corpse's gore lyrics and heavy metal hero worship are pointless. Mortician a joke.

The bands who can create albums like Whisper Supremacy are the elite, the ones I can respect for their battering musicianship and true extremity. Cryptopsy aren't kids out to be the 'freaks' in their senior class. They are out to make statements. Everything about this album is engineered to create fear. This is calculated suffering. This is brilliance.

"Emaciate" starts with a sense of quiet calm, and explodes into a frenzy as the ridicoulous speed drumming of Flo Mounier and the debut hardcore/death vocals of Mike DiSalvo roar out overtop. The song is akin to a swarm of bees swirling around the skull, a maelstrom of riffs and percussive textures glued together in a beutiful chaotic randomness. Quirks like 32nd-note blastbeating, ride cymbals, guitar twiddles, and funky/twnagy slap bass float in and out of the music. Sometimes, all the instruments let off the havoc and swirl together into a riffworthy groove or chromatic melody before exploding all over again. The solo is a brief burst of melody, the calm of the hurricane. When the song ends, only a second is given for breath before "Cold Hate, Warm Blood"'s deceptively gorgeous intro comes in. After a few seconds of jazz guitar and bass, the song rises into yet another frenzy, this one cold and melodic, more like a wave of icy water than bees. And, the melodies coalesce and diverge into patterns and harmonies before random bits of soft strumming are revealed. Flo's blasts in this song are ridiculously fast. The groovy B-section is seemingly a respite, aside from the odd time signatures and random speed changes. Guest vocals from previous vocalist Lord Worm and a breathtaking solo from lead guitarist Jon Levasseur end the song in a triumphant spirit. "Loathe" and "White Worms" repeat the process with even more ridiculous crushing riffs and spastic drumming. More twangs from Eric Langlois rise abound, and the band makes use of DiSalvo's unusual vocals to evoke a sense of anger from the music not usually found in death metal. Lord Worm sounded generic, gurgly and grunty, with no coherence or intelligibility. DiSalvo is almost articulate.

"Flame To The Surface" returns the album's ambient sense of melody, although the band has lost a bit of steam by now. Aside from a few mosh riffs in "Depths" and the great intro to "Faceless Unknown" courtesy of Levasseur and Miguel Roy (rhythm gitz), much of the last three tracks are interchangeable. Luckily, the momentum of the first half of the album carries through all the way into "Serpent's Coil" and the album ends as powerfully and intensely as it began.

Everything about this release, from the lyrics to the vocals to the arm-twisting guitarwork to the relentless drumming, is an exercise in musical ferocity. Hell, this album is the dissertation for technical death. The unique production brings drums and vocals to the forefront, crushing all (if not covering the guitar at times). Even the band pictures, the eerie cover art, and the brilliant title all help to convey the sense of dread Crytopsy have always intended to evoke and finally succeeded in 1998...

This album will eat your soul.

This is one of the most brutal albums, I kid ye not. I've listened to Cryptopsy evolve from a mostly standard-death-metal sound into this incredible sprawling battering roiling juggernaut they have now... Dang! It's relentless! It's like listening to a boulder the size of a Volkswagen roll downhill, while on fire, covered in blood with bits of weaponry sticking out. In other words, it's out of control but it's on a very tight path. Technically these guys are still amazing. I agree with that other reviewer-- Mike DiSalvo would've sounded out of place on other albums, but his utterly unrestrained vocals work just perfectly here. Lord Worm gave us the good old traditional death-metal growl, but DiSalvo makes you taste blood in the back of your own throat while you listen.

"Whisper Supremacy" makes you want to cover your head from the onslaught, and dance wildly at the same time. And if you're looking for a veritable symphony of Ungodly Racket [tm] that your mother will hate, this album's at the top of the list. Buy it immediately.

Upon the first few listens you might find yourself overwhelmed by a wall of noise -- these guys tune their six-string guitars from B to B. Six-string guitar pickups are not made to suit a low-B string, so those bottom notes are very hard to distinguish. But after three or four CAREFUL listenings, you start to hear virtuosity, beauty, and true innovation.

The guitar solos are fast and furious, but tasteful. The vocals are ferocious. The drumming is probably the best you'll find in this genre -- extraordinarily diverse, with the fastest blast beats humanly possible. The riffs, like I said, are on the cutting edge of innovation, virtuosity, and brutality.

The only thing that beats listening to this album is seeing these guys live! The SICK part is that they're even better on stage! You'll be able to appreciate that last comment only when you've given "Whisper Supremacy" some long, hard listens.

If you're looking for virtuosic, innovative death metal, also check out Suffocation, Hate Eternal, and Broken Hope.

I bought this album after hearing one rave about it after another, and I'm pleased to announce that everything I had heard about how hateful, insane, and technical this band is was completely true! Speed, precision, aggression: Cryptopsy have it all. The first time I put this CD into my car stereo I was going into full-body spasms from the sheer intensity of Cryptopsy's musical assualt. I consider myself a pretty hardened metal fan, but even I must confess to being blown away by this stuff. It's not even really music so much as hatred and anger being expressed through vocals and instruments. If you like jarring, irregular time signatures you're in the right place: these guys can change tempo on a dime. Cryptopsy even insert a few jazzy, ambient interludes into the mix, creating a dynamic that makes their sound even more punishing. I have never, EVER heard a drummer lay waste to his kit as thoroughly as Flo Mournier does. This guy is damn near superhuman, I kid you not. He does plenty of warp-speed hyperblast beats, but he also brings an impressive level of variety; he's just all over the kit here. The guitar duo of Jon Levasseur and Miguel Roy sounds like Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King on steroids, and Mike DiSalvo spews forth pure guttural venom on vocals. Eric Langlois's bass, which is thankfully a bit more audible on this album than on many of the genre, is just the extra kick in the head after you've already been knocked to the ground. I know my death metal pretty well, and I can say with certainly that "Whisper Supremacy" is among the cream of the crop in the genre. Highly recommended!

Well, I certainly do know what I like in music and what I blatantly hate. What happens when the musical elements you love collides with a lyrical performance that you abhor? The biggest issue for people who hate singers like DiSalvo is either ignoring it, or adapting to it. I'd prefer the former in this case, because Mike DiSalvo isn't a good death metal singer, he's fit for either a hardcore band, or possibly a metalcore band with that stupid "Yo yo yo, I'm in your face" oral discharge which is a poor excuse for a growl. DiSalvo can keep up with the music better than Lord Worm could, but at this point, no one really cares, because DiSalvo doesn't have the vocal SOUND for the job.

There are just times I'd wish to head bang, but then I hear that voice...and it almost embarrasses me to do so. Anyways, despite how bad of a picture I've already painted of the album, it's not as unbearable as you probably already think it is. Not much has really changed about Cryptopsy, and I'm a bit deplored to say that the song structures haven't really evolved much since Cryptopsy first released "Blasphemy Made Flesh." However, don't let that throw you off, everything is still very interesting, just a bit reused. The music as a whole is very fast and stays consistent throughout the entire album.

In every instrument department, this is very difficult stuff, and quite hard to dissect. After all, this is technical death metal. Most of the guitar playing is tremolo picking; there isn't much in the world of "heavy chug" riffs. Clearly, this is going for pure technical brutality, without any water downs. I don't know how long it took Jon Levasseur and Miguel Roy to learn how to play this well, but these guys must have some hands of steel to be able to play some of these riffs without popping a vein in their hands.

Flo Mounier delivers nothing short of an amazing performance, as usual. The impetus of Mr. Mounier must be to be the first death metal drummer to put on the most swift, relentless, and terrifying performance and come out of it with his arms and legs still in tact. Seriously, the guy could be mistaken for a drum machine because he drums so fast. Thanks to the deeds of Flo, I am constantly ghost drumming, with only the dream in mind that I could ever drum like he does. You know the feeling when you want to just beat on something until your arms fall off?

Yeah, that's the feeling the drumming gives off. While I wish I could rate this higher, because the music certainly is worthy of a high score, Mike DiSalvo's presence just throws me off. While he's not the worst vocalist of all time, he's not fit for a band like this. Vocals count as an instrument too, and Mike really screwed it up for Cryptopsy in that department. Congratulations, excellent music has met mediocre vocals.

This is pretty much the 3rd stage of death metal influenced by New York band Suffocation. Where the 2nd stage of death metal (Morbid Angel, Monstrsity, Deicide) was constructed of extremely fast tremolo strumming and/or the tap tap tap... drum beats, the 3rd (Cryptosy, Suffocation, Hate Eternal) stage takes the layered picking of some of the second stage combined with some power chord riffs, over technical drumming, and along with a heavy bass that is the trademark of this period.

The sound described above seems to be the current overall sound for death metal right now, but a few things makes cryptopsy stick out. The unconventional(respectively) strumming along with the jazzy drumming that practically predicts the next era of metal that seems to be the Meshuggah type metal.

Finally the aspect that make Cryptopsy absolutely amazing is the fact that they can write an album whose songs are diverse enough to be distinguished yet share a trait that breaks ground from previous albums all while still sharing a common sound. This is what makes a cd great as an album.

Original, technical, brutal. These words describe this album, yet before I end it seems like a complaint that riffs are too random. But this is what makes Cryptopsy original. Also random=unconventional=not normal, and as long as all their riffs relate to each other than the strumming is only part of their new sound and really isn't random to their sound. I hope this makes sense.

And lastly...

Death metal was meant to be a reflection of this world and its truth, the complexity, randomness, and brutality of the music and lyrics make this a work that will stand the test of time as a tribute to the roots and ideology of death metal that aren't lost in this new sound and era.

If you like this I recomend:Kataklysm, Suffocaton, and Hate Eternal.

Please mail all comments reguarding this review to divine213@yahoo.com

Cryptopsy's 1998 album, "Whisper Supremacy," is, quite simply, a ferocious, ceaseless, and monstrous onslaught. Skinsman Flo Mounier's polyrhythmic, walloping, hyper-speed blasts are mind-blowingly technical (as evidenced by such songs as "White Worms" and "Depths You've Fallen"), and the massive, chaotic rhythms pulverize the listener incessantly. Then funky, slapped bass lines, and vocals (by Mike DiSalvo, who debuted with the band on this disc) that are delivered in the form of undecipherable grunts, roaring bellows, and sharp, high-pitched barks are added to the mix. But there's no doubt that the devastating, white hot, highly discordant, ear-bleeding riffs are the sound's main focal point. Guitarists Jon Levasseur and Miguel Roy rip through every song with smoke-inducing speed. Plus, their waves of monstrous riffs and crushing leads sound even better when they're backed by a production job that's as crisp and clear as this one. For proof, consider the first and third tracks: "Emaciate" and "Loathe," two blinding maelstroms of explosive, rapid fire, speaker shredding guitar noise which is almost deafening. Also, "Cold Hate, Warm Blood" is highlighted by a jackhammer rhythm, a slow breakdown, and a superb, lengthy guitar solo; "Faceless Unknown" is a lumbering, cascading beat; and "Serpents Coil" boasts rapid, blistering riffs. By album's end, the listener has almost never felt so clobbered. And even though there are a few standout tracks, most of the album blends together, and the songs are generally not as catchy as those on Cryptopsy's 1996 disc, "None So Vile." But if you like your metal lightning fast and thunderously loud, or if you just feel like being beaten into a bloody pulp, you should definitely already own "Whisper Supremacy." Just make sure you listen with rested ears, and a heart that can withstand almost anything.