CRYPTIC BROOD returns with their third full-length album, “Necrotic Flesh Bacteria”, released in November 2024 via War Anthem Records. Nine tracks clocking in at 40 minutes. The album solidifies the band’s reputation for delivering Death Metal with grotesque atmospheres all across their activity. From the moment the opening track ‘Acid Fumes’ emerges, we are dragged into those morbid soundscapes that define CRYPTIC BROOD’s personality. Their music is at the same time slow, technical, filthy and unrelenting, combining agonizingly slow doom-laden riffs and vocals with aggression, helping CRYPTIC BROOD define their style. I really liked ‘Oozing Pox’, a track that leans into eerie passages, incorporating interludes that amplify that suffocating atmosphere represented all along the album before plunging back into this devastating Death Metal they do. ‘Viscid Fluid’ is also a great track. I liked the way it moves along its structure. The band definitely takes elements from the old school, building Death Metal (perhaps) à la DEATH, MORGOTH or GORGUTS, but still going beyond. Then, we find tracks like ‘Realm Of Rot’ and ‘Necrotic Flesh Bacteria’ that picture what CRYPTIC BROOD is all about (again) eerie, suffocating and devastating Death Metal. This guttural / agonizing vocals combination make the album so putrid and sick. Closing out we have ‘Reeking Pitted Innards’, a track that specially captured my attention, as it starts with a Death / Doom atmosphere which trapped me from its first note. A five minutes descent into the ultimate abyss, where haunting melodies and a crushing doom approach with the characteristic CRYPTIC BROOD’s identity, moving gradually towards their sound. With “Necrotic Flesh Bacteria”, CRYPTIC BROOD have refined their brand of festering Death Metal while staying true to their grimy, uncompromising roots. This is Death Metal at its most decayed and unwholesome, an essential listen for those who crave the macabre. Highly recommended! Support the brood and let the bacteria spread. www.facebook.com/crypticbrood, www.facebook.com/waranthemrecords