Review by Sam on February 8, 2026.

Holy. Fuckin. Shit. What we have here, oh my heshers and headbangers, is death metal perfection. Right out of the gate, with the first riff of the first song, 'Gallons Of Molten Hominal Goo' (could this be the best gore title ever conceived?), I find myself convulsing with spasmodic movements caused by this unstoppable force. This opening track has everything OSDM fans could possibly want, including the face-flattening riff, but by the song’s end, one of my burning questions has been answered once and for all. I wasn’t going to say anything about these dudes sticking exclusively to 4/4 time because it was working perfectly. They had made it clear that they could crush my soul and my balls without deviating from the foetid formula. Well, actually there may have been an odd meter in the last album opener, but I was too lazy to try to count it. But to close Hominal Goo, Tibor delivers an expertly executed palm-muted riff in an undoubted 5/4, and it fuckin kills. The facts are irrefutable. Cryptworm are the kings of contemporary OSDM.

Up next, the frantic and filthily titled 'Maimed And Gutted'. Seriously, Hanyi’s song-titling capabilities are beyond belief. And let’s not forget this guy’s voice. I think this gentleman could possibly be a legitimately disturbed human being. Some of the gurgling to be found on this record goes beyond that realm and into previously unexplored vocalizations that more closely resemble choking. Like choking to death on a ham sandwich type sounds that, quite frankly, are difficult to listen to. But this is good. In extreme metal, we are quickly desensitized by all the things, such as the sheer brutality, the speed, the blast beats, the overall miasma of the music, but this type of choking to death vocal is something new that pops yet another heavy metal cherry that I personally had not yet had the pleasure of having popped.

Ok, time to talk about the rhythm section. Bassist Josh Farrington gets a few opportunities to let his instrument sing out, and his tone is that of a Shane Embury acid dream. This is superlative death metal bass; distorted, fuzzy, and decayed, with a texture that you can actually taste. It’s delicious. As for drummer Jamie Wintle, this is his finest hour with Cryptworm. His snare is cranked to perfection, glorious. He is the master of the old school, Mick Harris, alternate stroke, one-footed blast beat. When he plays this type of blast on this album, the desired effect is achieved: it sounds like you’re being incinerated in a gigantic blast furnace like the kind that were used in the steel mills of Birmingham back when Butler and Halford were lads. And, yes. This dude plays double bass. It finally happened, and I can rejoice in knowing that he can do it and do it very well. These kick drums have been masterfully captured in this recording. They’re big, fat, completely unobtrusive, and with no annoying clicking to be heard. I knew it would come, and when it did come, I knew they would get it right, and they did.

Some of the riffs of Tibor Hanyi are just fucking irreproachable. The monolithic crunching over the flying Slayer beat of the song 'Drowning In Purulent Excrementia' (!) sounds like the biblical behemoth, the great beast, leveling all in its path. The title track opens with a mid-tempo, driving riff, driving an iron spike into your brain. Every riff to be found throughout the duration of this opus is deliberate and serves a distinct purpose. That purpose is to deliver the listener to the next riff, and ultimately to the purest feeling our beloved genre has to offer: the feeling of complete and absolute triumph. This band and the soundscapes it creates offer a sensation of empowerment that simply can’t be found elsewhere in today’s death metal scene. I don’t know if Tibor is a reader of Nietzsche, but his will to power is undeniable. He is Ubermensch.

One thing that Cryptworm does not, and will not do, which I offer the highest commendation for, is the studio fade. These boys know how to end their songs without twiddling knobs. I cannot overstate enough the importance of this fact. Say what you will about Tool, are they metal, are they not metal, are they art rock, whatever, but that is a band that makes a deliberate ending for everything that they write. Cryptworm embodies this same philosophy, and they end their songs with authority. For example, check out the ending of 'Embedded With Parasitic Larvae'. The riff is one of the single most devastating ones to be had, anywhere, and when the 32nd note double bass comes in underneath, just fuckin forget about it, dude, ‘cause it can’t get any better than this.

As for the influences of this ensemble, Demilich is the obvious one, with Tibor’s vocals this time not only matching but surpassing those of Antti Boman in terms of sickening putrefaction. But it’s all there. You can hear Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Cianide, a bit of Celtic Frost, and probably a bunch of bands that I’ve never heard of, but the most apparent aspect of Cryptworm is honesty. The sincerity of this endeavor and what it’s about are what endear them to me and hopefully to any other old school head that encounters them. Anyone who can do this sort of thing with his voice unaided by studio magic is a metal freak in the truest sense of the word.

The album closes with 'Encephalic Feast', and I have reached an epiphany. This song title will also be the name of my Cryptworm tribute band, and I am now accepting applications for personnel. This track is just fucking vile. I mean, it’s kinda scary. It features the single most psychopathic choking vocal sequence ever recorded, like it sounds like it did serious damage to the dude’s larynx. This piece is the doomiest to be found on the record; it fucking rules, and it was the best choice of song to bury this rotting casket entitled Infectious Pathological Waste. Mark your calendars for March 27, 2026.

 Rating: 10 out of 10 gallons of Molten Hominal Goo