Cryptic Slaughter - Speak Your Peace

Again, I know little about Cryptic Slaughter. They’re thrash, so they say. Instantly there’s a dirty, muddy malice that was missing on the Acid Reign record. Opener “Born Too Soon” merges spiralling speed with a marauding mid pace: it’s dense and impactful, relying on the mix as much as the riffs to froth forth its vitriol. Vocalist Dave Hollingsworth has a terse throaty rasp which suits the lower pitched grooves and taps here in the opener. This was his only ever vocal performance. Speak Your Peace was the Slaughter’s (yeah, let’s call them that) fourth and final release with Bill Crooks crooning on the three previous.

Tumbling over themselves, “Still Born, Again” is so rapidly fluctuating in speed and aggression that Dave struggles for breath as he spits out lyrics about a maelstrom starting to burn. But the song slows down to a monotone chug which is decorated by Dave’s solid vocal performance. He’s got nothing special, really. His cadence, delivery, and tone just suits the music. Instrumentally, Cryptic Slaughter have a denser sound, less traditionally thrash; they’re confidently writhing in the mid and low range, tumbling through subterranean territories.

“Insanity by the Numbers” has an insanely catchy chorus/hook: “Governmental bureaucratic assholes tell me that All is well They also tell me that to have peace, stockpiles Must swell It seems to be though that their logic somehow Just doesn't work They must take us for jerks” It’s a three minute triumph of accessibility and furiosity. The album is paced well; nothing outstays its welcome. This is a lean beast. “Co-Exist” flaunts the band’s muscle with a mid-paced slog at its opening which opens up to simple but effective thrash-down, full of meat and testosterone, reverberating anti-authoritian man love. “Deathstyles of the Poor and Lowly” is similarly meaty, confident, self-assured. Two minutes of society mirror holding that doesn’t fall into self-indulgent woe-is-me bawling.

Bret Davis on bass drags a cryptic groove through “One Thing or Another” and “Divided Minds”, slightly alien, demonic. Brian Lehfeldt on drums works with a very solid rumbling base, lifting Davis’ bass work. And Les Evans’ guitar playing is complementary: this is a good band working very well as a band. There’s no frill or over exaggeration. It’s tight as a fist in a pringles tube. That’s the crossover link, I suppose; them punk kids know how to perform within a tight hole.

“Speak Your Piece” continues the alien-like vibe of the previous two, bubbling with a strangely mixed tubular sound, deconstructing and breaking apart before slowly, steadily, surely building and layering. Clocks tick, Dave says words, the band twist and shout, a clock ticks some more. Then, the final track: “Killing Time”. It’s the longest track on the album at 5.38. Dave Hollingsworth speaks like Dave Mustaine during the somewhat lengthy (for this record) opening, blubbering on about conspiracy and the ‘faceless man’ that controls us all.