Blasphemy Made Flesh
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''Blasphemy Made Flesh'' is the debut album by Canadian
death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
band
Cryptopsy Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, formed in 1988. History Pre-Cryptopsy days (1988–1992) Canadian death/thrash metal band Necrosis was formed in April 1988 by drummer Mike Atkin, guitarist Steve Thibault and vo ...
, released on November 25, 1994 through Invasion Records. re-released in 1997 by
Displeased Records Displeased Records was a Dutch independent record label, founded by Lars Eikema and Ron Veltkamp. The label had many Dutch and other extreme metal bands on its roster, but has also re-released albums by Agathocles (band), Agathocles, Cryptopsy, In ...
, and also re-released in 2001 by
Century Media A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A ...
with a different cover. The album was recorded at Piranha Studio in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
. It is the only album to feature bassist Martin Fergusson.


Music

The music on ''Blasphemy Made Flesh'' has been described as "sophisticated" and as having an " off-kilter personality." Its style has been described as a more "
maniacal Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a psychiatric behavioral syndrome defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level. During a manic episode, an individual will experience rapidly changing emotions and moods, ...
" and "chaotic" approach to the "
technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ...
,
percussive A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
" style of
Suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
. The album contains many
tempo changes In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...
, and has been noted for its "extreme speed". Todd Nief of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
described the musicianship as "technically impressive, but occasionally sloppy in an almost
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
way," and music journalist T Coles assessed that the band "uses the momentum to elevate their ideas from complex to just plain overwhelming." The
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
and bass work has been described as "complex and dramatic". Lord Worm's vocal style on the album incorporates
death growls The death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Sometimes death growl vocals are criticized for thei ...
and high shrieks. His vocal performance has been described as "all over the place," and his choices of vocal
rhythms Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular rec ...
to punctuate
phrases In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very ...
as "awkward". The album also contains melodic guitar
riffs A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...
that have drawn comparisons to
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
.


Reception

Todd Nief of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
said, "The switch between
technical death metal Technical death metal (also known as tech death) is a musical subgenre of death metal with particular focus on instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Technical and progressive experimentation in death metal began in the late 1980s and early ...
, rhythmic pounding, and sped-up
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
riffing is occasionally jarring, but this album "works" as a whole. Cryptopsy's ear for catchy
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
and desire to push the boundaries of an aesthetic make ''Blasphemy Made Flesh'' a resounding success."


Track listing

*All songs written and arranged by Cryptopsy.


Personnel


Cryptopsy

* Lord Worm – vocals * Jon Levasseur – lead and rhythm guitars * Steve Thibault – rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Martin Fergusson – bass *
Flo Mounier Florent Mounier (born 29 June 1974) is a French-Canadian musician, best known as the drummer of the Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. He has toured Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States as a headlining act over the last 24 yea ...
– drums, backing vocals, photography, logo art


Additional personnel

* François Quévillon – cover art (original cover) * Jacky Mounier – photography * Rod "The God" Shearer – engineering * Kevin Weagle – design


References

Cryptopsy albums 1994 debut albums Century Media Records albums {{1990s-death-metal-album-stub