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CRYPTWORM
Infectious Pathological Waste

Me Saco Un Ojo / Extremely Rotten (2026)
Rating: 8/10

A new congealed Cryptworm horror show is upon us once again and it’s one that secures the place of the Bristol, England-based band at the top of sickly summit when it comes to British death metal.

Leaking from every orifice, Cryptworm’s squalid instrumentation boasts the expected air of festering fumes and ghoulish gloom. The album cover art is a bit too goofy and generic if I’m honest, conjuring images of a more contemporary design that one might see in the more “brutal” death genre. Even so, musically this is another juicy juggernaut whose engine boils over to its own fetid squabbles and sediment-clogged gurgles. As far as I’m concerned, as long as that dank air remains, Cryptworm will always hold my attention.

Infectious Pathological Waste kicks off with the rancid and slime-enshrouded ‘Gallons Of Molten Hominal Goo’. The riff is abysmal in its trudging, grinding in accordance with the equal dull thuds of the drums. As I flick through the song titles I wonder just how many splattery words are left in the dictionary when it comes to death metal subjects. To an extent it’s all very predictably worded; ‘Drowning In Purulent Excrementia’, ‘Emanations Of Corporeal Pyosis’ and ‘Gastrointestinal Seepage’ are bland in wordage, but it’s interesting to still see bands attempting the Carcass-style of communication.

Musically though it’s all very unhygienic yet gruesomely wholesome, particularly the rather groovy ‘Gastrointestinal Seepage’ with its tin can drumming and sickly vocal blurts. ‘Drowning In Purulent Excrementia’ combines faster blasts with mid-tempo mulch, but I guess there’s obvious limitations with this sort of squelching gore metal. All of it harkens back to the halcyon horror days of the aforementioned Carcass and the likes of Repulsion.

A literal plethora of bands have been rattling off the same or similar rank tirades, but Cryptworm certainly does it better than most. Guitarist Hanyi Tibor pukes his rotten innards all over the stereo, his gory gurgles a sound to behold, especially on ‘Maimed And Gutted’. Let’s also talk about ‘Embedded With Parasitic Larvae’, where the riffs cast repulsive spores as they churn in such ghastly fashion.

Strangely, although the album runs at a tight 35 minutes, it feels even shorter probably due to its rather one-dimensional nature, although I also appreciate that the trio have set out to compose the filthiest album of their career, the result being a sometimes general and familiar spew of gloom n’ gore.

This album is a veritable gunk bucket of juiced up riffs which squirm and slither into every orifice, but I still think the best is yet to come. For now, Infectious Pathological Waste is what I anticipated, although there’s only so long I can dwell in those humid sewers.

Neil Arnold

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