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Cryptic Tales: Anathema

18/11/09 || Khlysty

While The Lord has already seen to the introduction of GD devotees to the great aesthetic quality of Cryptic Tales, it’s gonna be my duty to review their very first official outing into the happy-go-lucky world of metal (yup, Cryptic Tales is a long-standing proponent of this kind of music in Poland, seeing as they exist in one form or another since 19fucking89…). “Anathema” reared its sickly head for the first time back in 1993 and we have to thank Redrum666 for re-releasing it in 2009 with bonus multimedia material, thus securing its position within the Great Metal Hall of Infamy.

First things first, I have no fucking clue if the band remastered or in any other way tweaked the material at hand. But, if they did, it doesn’t exactly shows, since the sound that emanates from my speakers won’t get any prizes for clarity and/or separation. This is obviously a lo-fi, lo-buck production job, which posits one big problem for the prospective reviewer/buyer of “Anathema”: that is, the music is pretty much on the low-end of the scale and the not-exactly-pristine quality of the recording makes it come off as muddy and blurry.

But, “wait a fuckin’ minute, hold yer hosses, what the fuck do you mean by saying that the music is pretty much on the low-end of the scale?”, I can hear you shouting. “Ain’t Cryptic Tales supposed to be, like, y’ know, BLACK METAL?, or sumpthin’?”. Well, yes and no. See, what I hear in “Anathema” is some pretty competent death metal (with growled, incomprehensible vocals, low-end guitars, lots of tempo and time-signature changes, y’ know, warts and all…), into which some elements of black metal (some tremolo picking, some melodic synth flourishes, some acoustic passages, shit like that) are being incorporated. So, if one comes to this, hoping for a dash of Emperor or Dimmu Borgir, one will be sorely disappointed.

Anyway for what it is, “Anathema” is a good record. The band tries a few things, to see what fits into its music and what doesn’t (I like the psychedelic guitar playing near the end of “Live in Vinless” and the contrabass on “Voices inside the Beast”) and the playing is OK, even though, as I’ve said earlier, the production renders the guitar sound less “meaty” and more “noisy” than the band would probably had preferred. Also, the solos try to be hyper-velocity-fretboard-insanity, but most of the time won’t work. I prefer it when the quartet focuses on writing and performing good stomping parts, which are usually followed by faster –and a little bit sloppy, but in a good way- parts.

Anyway, to wrap things up, “Anathema” is a good death metal record. If one’s looking for a masterpiece, one won’t find it here. Also, most of the time, the black metal elements seem a bit superfluous and the music wouldn’t be hurt if they were missing altogether. Obviously, Cryptic Tales didn’t think so, as they expanded upon that palette in later albums, to move into symphonic black metal territory. So, in most probability, “Anathema” is an aberration in their discography, but for what it is, it’s pretty OK.

Information
Released: 1993
Label: Carnage Records (2009 Redrum666 re-issue)
Website: www.cryptictales.pl
Band
Piotr Kopko: rhythm, lead and classic guitars, vocals, keyboards
Dariusz Gibalewicz: rhythm guitar
Jarosław Maciuszek: drums
Witold Zawadzki: bass
Radosław Ornatowski: contrabass

Tracklist
01. Anathema
02. Steeple of the nightmare
03. Live in Vinnless
04. In grave rotting is slowly
05. Voices inside the Beast
06. Putrid Mutants

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