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Review: Crypta, Exchange – ‘Not a weak link anywhere’
“You’re going out early for your death metal concert.”
“Indeed I am, dear. I don’t want to miss any of Sodomized Cadaver.”
“That sounds wonderful. Have a lovely time!”
is needed now More than ever
“I certainly shall. See you later.”
First up tonight are Bristol’s very own Moon Reaper, who secured themselves a slot on the New Blood stage at last year’s Bloodstock Festival. They’ve got just 30 minutes to impress this crowd and quickly get down to business.
Moon Reaper bill themselves as a ‘blackened hardcore doom’ act, which seems a fairly accurate description of their brand of doom with black metal overtones.
Male and female growled vocals work well together and they seem keen to push those genre boundaries with some complex compositions. It’s this sense of ambition that will serve them well as their music develops.
With myriad sub-genres springing up every time you look away, sometimes basic, brutal death metal succeeds in hitting the spot.
Sodomized Cadaver (their Americanised spelling – they’re from Ebbw Vale) don’t deviate far from the template established back in the 1990s, but the tight and well rehearsed trio rejoice in “spreading the sodomy since 2013” and are very welcome here as they take to a stage bathed in blood red light.
After decades of gig-going, it’s easy to assume that you’ve seen everything. But before tonight I’d never seen a drummer shit himself on stage. Or maybe I had, but they kept very, very quiet about it.
Not so SodCad’s drummer, who seems eager that we should all know about his defecatory mishap, which occurs without missing a beat. His bandmates seem suitably amused and dedicate Vile Intercourse to anyone who has sex with him.
At the end of the set, the poor chap scampers off the stage and hurtles through the crowd clutching his bottom. At least no one has to share his, you know, stool.
When Ghost’s Tobias Forge named Crypta as his favourite young band, the all-female Brazilian death metallers received a very welcome career boost.
Now it’s time to deliver on that promise with their first UK headlining tour. There are no problems on that front, as the quartet seem to spend most of their lives on the road and clearly love every moment of it.
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: June 2024
The sound mix works against them at first, with bassist/vocalist Fernanda Lira’s impressive roar nearly lost altogether. But that’s swiftly rectified as they rattle through new album Shades of Sorrow almost in its entirety and also dip back into their debut, Echoes of the Soul.
There’s not a weak link anywhere. Luana Dametto might be slightly built, but she’s an absolute demon behind the drums.
Lead guitarist Jéssica di Falchi is quite the shredder and should broaden the band’s appeal to old-skool metallers in consort with rhythm guitarist Tainá Bergamaschi, who gets a few lead lines of her own.
And Fernanda Lira is not only an impressive bassist and growler but also has a fine repertoire of gurning and Gene Simmons-style tongue waggling.
There are certainly more ladies here tonight than you’d normally expect to see at a death metal show, but fortunately this uncompromising music is resistant to mainstream media exoticization, so Crypta will be spared the fate of becoming a fad act as they build an audience on the metal circuit.
They promise to be back soon. You’d be unwise to miss them.
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