Crypts Of Despair - We Belong In The Grave

Crypts Of Despair – We Belong In The Grave
Release Date: 18th April 2025
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal, Blackened Death Metal.
FFO: Ulcerate, Mgla, Replicant, Skaphos.
Review By: Mark Young

I genuinely love reviewing new releases from Transcending Obscurity. For me, seeing their name means that the music has got an exceptional chance of blowing my mind, Crown Of Madness being the most recent example. I have similar high hopes for this, and We Belong in The Grave is our starting point from the new blast of aggression from Crypts Of Despair, and it possesses all the hallmarks required for an engaging collection of heavy music. I’ll maintain that the first track always sets the tone for what is to follow; if it fails to excite or at least stimulate you, then it can prove difficult to stay the course. At least here, they lay down a heavy marker from which you can make that choice. Terminal Dias follows and doesn’t stray from the path too much. Guttural vocals, tight guitar and drums with tempos that range from a methodical crush to speedy blasts are on point, but it has a sterile air to it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but at the same time it doesn’t have that ‘something’ to mark it out from a number of similar sounding bands.

As we progress they seem content, even comfortable with their arrangements, Obliteration of the Impure offers up more of the same content, which sounds great but at the same time doesn’t engage. My earlier judgement looks to be correct as Undisillusioned starts in that set pattern, again with a song that is heavy AF but is nothing you haven’t heard before, and I suppose it is that feeling of familiarity that is running through this that is forming my opinion here. What we have is a set of songs which I would say reflects how modern extreme metal sounds. It has exactly what you expect to hear, and from that respect it absolutely crushes. You can’t fault their intent or application, but at the same time I feel that it is missing a spark that would set it on a different level from other artists. Going back to the start, and reflecting on my first impression there is nothing on here that changes that opinion that it feels overly mechanical and while it is possible that was their intention from the start overall it suffers because of it. There is no denying that it ticks all the boxes you could want at a base level, it just needs something more in order to move to that next level.