Crypta - Plymouth Review

Whilst I am not one for New Year's resolutions, throughout 2024 I have been making much of an effort with death metal. I have been doing so on and off for a few years, but I feel that I have made something of a proper breakthrough with the genre this year - and I have been listening to a lot more heavy music than ever since the turn of the year. Reviews of the latest albums by Gatecreeper and Nile will follow over the next few months, but I have also been doing what I can when it comes to catching death metal bands live. My first gig of the year, in fact, was a Plymouth headline show from Denmark's Baest, whom I caught again after enjoying them at Bloodstock Open Air in 2022, and my most recent show, which took place last night, was also of the more extreme variety. Plymouth has often had a bit of relationship with extreme metal. I remember bands like Dying Fetus, Carnifex, Vader, and Nile (among others) all playing either at White Rabbit or at The Hub many years ago - and there was a somewhat thriving grind scene here in the mid/late 2000s. I cannot say that I have really been keeping up with the local extreme metal scene, much to my shame really, but it is good to see that the occasional 'named' extreme metal band still make it down this way - and last night it was the turn of Brazil's Crypta to head down the M5/A38 and sample what Plymouth has to offer. The four-piece may not be a band of long-standing history, although two of its members were formally part of Nervosa who have been around since 2010, but they have already started making waves since forming in 2019 - releasing two studio albums and playing countless shows. Despite how busy the band have been, though, they had not visited the UK prior to this current lengthy European tour - and it was good to see them including a healthy number of UK shows in both obvious and less obvious places, with most of the shows taking place in June alongside a handful of others in August to coincide with the band's appearance at this year's Bloodstock. Crypta are clearly really pushing themselves, then, but they deserve the success and plaudits that they are getting. They are certainly rising stars in the death metal world and their two albums: 2021's Echoes of the Soul and 2023's Shades of Sorrow; have both received excellent reviews. The venue for the band's evening in Plymouth was The Junction - which is likely the best small venue in the city these days. Baest played at the Underground instead, which is not as good in my opinion, but The Junction always delivers in terms of atmosphere. Nights out there are always worth undertaking, then, and it was clear that quite a few others thought so, too - as Crypta attracted a pretty healthy crowd, especially for a Wednesday night in a city which many consider to be off the beaten path.

Before Crypta's set, though, the growing crowd were treated to sets from two support bands - both of whom were from the South West. Up first were the technical death metal four-piece Unburier from Yeovil - and the band impressed during their half an hour or so on stage with a machine-drilled performance and songs which featured some of the evening's most complex arrangements. The band were not as knotty as some technical death metal bands, but there was certainly a strong progressive flavour to their songwriting - with each track taking plenty of twists and turns via many, many different riffs. The band never really stayed in one place for too long, which kept things interesting, and there was also a lot of time turned over to guitar soloing - with Blake Hibberd (vocals/guitar) dominating on that front, although Ben Champion (vocals/guitar) also chipped in some with excellent shredded passages. Champion dominated vocally instead, and his harsh vocals were on point throughout the set, although Hibberd also took the lead occasionally with some deeper growls - and the two also teamed up for some powerful dual vocal moments. Much of the band's set seem to be taken up by a full run-through of this year's EP Nebulous with a couple of older tracks coming later in the set - and I have to say that Unburier's set really flew by. I found all of the songs to be captivating whilst the band were on stage and the guitar playing of both Champion and Hibberd really held my interest. There was a particularly memorable moment during one of the songs which saw the two start playing a solo together before Hibberd launched into a crazy shredded run of notes whilst Champion played a more melodic and controlled lead line underneath. This combination worked so well and it was clear that the band certainly have plenty of chops - and seemingly the songwriting to back it up. Unburier are a band I need to check out a bit more I think based on their showing yesterday - and they got the evening off to a strong start.

Plymouth's own War Shepherd were up next. I had heard of them previously but had not ever really listened to their music. I have to say that I did not find their set as enjoyable as Unburier's, but they still had plenty of character and a bit of a different sound which merged pretty folky guitar leads alongside a pretty fast-paced and punky death metal sound. The band were more of a melodic death metal band, then, but they lacked the anthemic qualities of many of the best melodic death metal bands. The omni-present deeper growls and screams of frontwoman Jamie Burton and the straight-ahead arrangements reminded me somewhat of The Black Dahlia Murder - albeit with much more of a focus on guitar leads than riffs, with the aforementioned folky melodies a big part of the band's sound. War Shepherd are one of those bands which have a lot of good ingredients but I am not sure that everything quite comes together - at least in a way which gels with me. I think the reason why melodic death metal works as a genre is that the best bands that create such music tend to be very hooky - both in the guitar and vocal departments. I thought that Burton had a great voice, but the vocal melodies were not all that hooky - and the songs could have done with some shout-along choruses given the folky side and the fact that such tends to be a genre trope. I have not managed to gel with the aforementioned The Black Dahlia Murder for the same reasons - and I also found much of the guitar playing to be lead-based with the rhythm guitar parts often not pushing things riff-wise. I liked a lot about the band's make-up - but the final product just was not really for me. Despite this, though, I did not find the band's set to drag. Like Unburier, they only had around half an hour to play with and the band ripped through their set in pretty furious fashion - whilst eliciting a pretty strong reaction from the crowd (who had also warmed to Unburier quite a bit, too).

The main event was certainly the Plymouth debut of the four ladies from Brazil, though, and when 9:30pm rolled around the band took to the stage with The Aftermath (Intro) playing over the PA before launching into The Other Side of Anger. Given that the band are currently promoting Shades of Sorrow, every song from the album was played over the next hour or so, with even the intro, outro, and interlude getting an airing. Three songs from Echoes of the Soul also made the cut, but the setlist was very much a forward-looking one - with the more involved and longer newer songs winning out over the band's punchier earlier material. Despite a slightly muddy sound at times, which was strange considering that both of the support acts had sounded very clear, meaning that Fernanda Lira (vocals/bass guitar) was sometimes buried in the mix vocally, the band sounded powerful and whipped up a great atmosphere from the word go. The crowd did not take much persuading to get on side - and there was plenty of moshing from the off, with the pit action down near the front only getting more intense as the night went on. Lira sounded great vocally when she was not buried in the mix, but for me the real standout performers were the guitar duo of Jéssica di Falchi and Tainá Bergamaschi. The two traded riffs and solos all night, with each song a real feast of guitar firepower. Some of the best guitar moments for me came outside of the main solos, with lots of tapping licks thrown in throughout the night - although both soloed with real venom, too. The two had a great chemistry and the powerful drumming of Luana Dametto really held everything together - her footwork fast and precise. Early highlights for me were the raspy Lift the Blindfold and the somewhat more atypical Lullaby for the Forsaken - the latter of which starts slowly before morphing into something much longer and progressive which felt like the centrepiece of the set's first half. Another strong moment of this early part of the night was the doomier Stronghold, which showcased the band's slower, more old-school death metal side - which differs from their more usual thrashier approach. The first half featured some longer pieces, then, but the latter half felt a bit more direct. The handful of older cuts were included here, such as the more anthemic Under the Black Wings, whilst the thrashy Dark Clouds proved that the latest album could still go for the throat in a more direct manner - leaving behind some of the more progressive flourishes from earlier. Perhaps the best couple of numbers were left for the end, though, with two anthemic pieces left to bring the band's ferocious set to a close. First the newer Lord of Ruins saw plenty of singing from the crowd, particularly those in the pit, before the older From the Ashes felt like the band's real anthem - with Lira really belting out the lyrics, aided by the crowd, whilst the guitar duo of di Falchi and Bergamaschi soloed one last time. It was a great end to a heavy evening - and the ladies took their bows to huge cheers from a crowd which seemed more invested than many bigger audiences I have been a part of. The setlist was:

The Aftermath (Intro)

The Other Side of Anger

Poisonous Apathy

Lift the Blindfold

The Outsider

Lullaby for the Forsaken

Stronghold

The Limbo (Interlude)

Trial of Traitors

Under the Black Wings

Dark Clouds

Shadow Within

Agents of Chaos

Lord of Ruins

From the Ashes

The Closure (Outro)

Due to a great performance from Crypta and the crowd whipping up a strong atmosphere, last night's show at The Junction was an excellent one. Crypta's set really flew by and it is clear why they are considered such rising stars in the death metal world. I really hope that they can climb the ranks going forward and achieve even more success - and they seem to be going about it the right way thanks to Napalm Records' pushing of the band and their busy touring schedule. I hope I get to catch the band live again in the future and I imagine that next time it will be in somewhere bigger than The Junction.