BLASTEROID – CRYPTS OF MIND

(Andy Synn goes crypt-diving and tomb-raiding with Greek Prog-Tech shredders Blasteroid)

With so many releases coming out each and every month, it can be easy to lose track of bands you’ve previously enjoyed, especially when – as is the case here – we haven’t heard from them in almost seven years.

But Pepperidge Farm NoCleanSinging remembers.

NoCleanSinging does not forget.

The last time we wrote about Greek astro-shredders Blasteroid – who still have one of the best, and worst, names in Metal – was back in December of 2017, when yours truly penned a few words about their debut EP.

Said EP drew favourable comparisons with the likes of Obscura, Beyond Creation, and Hieronymus Bosch (RIP), and laid down the blueprint upon which their new album, Crypts of Mind (out now) continues to build.

The band’s approach here, however, has clearly shifted towards a thrashier, but arguably even proggier, approach which drops most of that early Beyond Creation influence (especially where the shift to a raspier, more Schuldiner-esque vocal style is concerned) in favour of a sound that leans even more towards the early Obscura/latter-day Hieronymus Bosch side of things, while also reaching even further back in time to pay welcome tribute to Individual Thought Patterns era Death.

This is immediately made apparent during agile, nimble-fingered opener “Of Nature Unknown” (whose rapid-fire riffage and blissfully proggy bridge section quickly establish the foundation of the album’s sound) and its strikingly unconventional companion, “Chaos God”, which – with its chattering rhythms, off-kilter anti-grooves, and extensive second-half space-jam – affirms the fact that Blasteroid definitely aren’t writing for a casual audience here.

What this means, of course, is that Crypts of Mind isn’t the sort of album that everyone is going to fall in love with straight away – committed Tech/Prog nerds probably won’t have too much trouble getting into a twitchy, twisted track like “Entwined”, sure, but the rest of us/you might take a little longer to fully “grok” what the band are going for by purposefully delaying gratification and refusing to reveal a lot of their hooks right up front.

That’s not to say, however, that Crypts of Mind is incapable of making an instant impact – both the blast-propelled “Void Alchemy” and the equally intense (but arguably even catchier) “Mass Synthesis” hit hard right from the outset, and lock in so tightly that their eventual shift into proggier shapes actively serves as a welcome breather (while also allowing the bass more room to flex its funky stuff) – it’s just that this is definitely one of those albums where the more you listen to it, the more time and attention you dedicate to it, the more you’re going to be able to pick out and appreciate about it.

And it’s during the climactic title-track that this particular approach truly pays dividends, as its eerie, slow-burn introduction eventually gives way to an evolving array of writhing riffs and shredding solos, underpinned by some impressively precise and powerful drums, that builds towards a soaring mid-song crescendo, only to temporarily ease off the gas to give itself an even bigger run-up as it ascends towards its triumphant climax.

Sure, Blasteroid probably aren’t going to be winning all that many points for originality – they’re clearly wearing their influences on their sleeve(s) without remorse – but when it comes to execution, they get an A+ from me!