None So Vile

The Artist

Cryptopsy are a death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in the late 1980s and widely regarded as one of the most extreme and technically demanding acts the genre has produced. Their sound fuses relentless speed with jagged, unpredictable riffing and sudden rhythmic lurches, anchored by the drumming of Flo Mounier, whose blast beats became a benchmark for metal drummers. Vocalist Lord Worm gave the band its notorious identity, pairing bottomless gutturals with dense, archaic, and deliberately grotesque lyrics. None So Vile is their second full-length album, following Blasphemy Made Flesh. It was Lord Worm's final record with the band for nearly a decade, and many fans consider it their defining statement.

The Album

None So Vile was released in 1996 through the independent label Wrong Again Records, recorded in Quebec on a modest underground budget. The result is a raw, fairly dry mix that leaves the individual instruments exposed rather than buried in polish. At eight tracks and roughly half an hour, it is compact and unrelenting, with almost no breathing room between assaults. The album gained a cult following slowly through tape trading and word of mouth, and it is now routinely cited among the most influential technical death metal records. Thematically it dwells in gore, decay, blasphemy, and morbid obsession, delivered with a gleefully elaborate vocabulary.

Listen For

The drummer as lead instrument. Flo Mounier's playing often steers the songs more than the guitars do. On "Crown of Horns," notice how his shifts between blasts and off-kilter fills dictate every change in direction.

An audible bass. Unusually for death metal of the era, Eric Langlois's bass is clearly present in the mix. Listen for it carving its own lines underneath the riffs rather than simply doubling them.

The guttural extreme. Lord Worm's voice sits so low it functions almost like another rhythm instrument. On "Slit Your Guts," track how his phrasing locks into the drums.

Riffs without choruses. Many songs chain together riff after riff instead of returning to a repeating hook. "Benedictine Convulsions" is a good test of whether you can map its structure on a first listen.

Sudden tempo drops. The band frequently slams from full speed into a lurching, heavy groove. Pay attention to how these brakes hit across "Phobophile" and "Orgiastic Disembowelment."