Relative newcomers to the world of extreme metal, CRYPTIC HATRED was created as essentially a high school project. The band released their debut 8 track demo in early 2020, prior to the global shutdown. The band seemed to use that time wisely as they now have released their debut full length album, "Nocturnal Sickness", which promises to lean heavily towards the early 1990s sound whilst incorporating their own unique twists.

Straight of the bat, they have certainly delivered what they promised! It's easy to see that early 90s death metal influence in there. Especially during "Vile Execution" and "As I Enter Darkness". The band can crank up the intensity with lightening fast blast beats combined with shredding at digustingly high tempos! They can easily switch this up and slow the pace right down, creating breakdowns and blugeoning walls of sound designed to pound the listener into submission. This is very much the formula that death metal legends SUFFOCATION became world famous for, and it's easy to see how they have influenced CRYPTIC HATRED. Some of the highly technical guitar work throughout the album is definitely commendable, for example in "Eternal Horror". That guitar tone - full, dark, piercing through the rest of the mix - creates the old school death metal illusion.

I particularly enjoyed the album's title track, "Nocturnal Sickness". For me, this song leans more towards a black metal track, especially with the DARK FUNERAL style guitar work and chromatic scales. This demonstrates versatility in the bands song writing and production. On the subject of production, I did notice some modern production techniques. Especially during the opening track, "Into The Depths". Aptly named really, as they capture the filthy low end synthetic drops perfectly. I was listening to this whilst driving and felt the rumble of the bass shake the interior of my vehicle.

There was me thinking I may need to get a new exhaust! This is something you'd expect from a modern metalcore album, so that again speaks to the band's versatility in songwriting and production. I haven't mentioned the vocals yet. In all honesty, I think they are the weak link in what is a very strong chain. Eemil is consistently heavy and in all honesty sounds down right brutal at times. However, I didn't understand a single word he said! Granted, this is death metal. A genre in which lyrical content isn't always the highest priority. But it would be nice to understand the songs in more detail and have lyrics to invest in.

Production wise, it's hard to really fault it. They've definitely captured the old school death metal fullness and dirty yet with some modern techniques. This gives them a solid foundation to work on for future recordings. Overall, this is a very brave effort from a new band. CRYPTIC HATRED seem to have all the makings for a long and successful career in the world of extreme metal.