2026 Anniversary Series 079: Cryptopsy – None So Vile

Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 3rd July 1996 1996 would be a bit of a final swansong for death metal’s most successive early period, but it did not go out with a whimper and instead would provide many of the genre’s enduring classics, even if we did not realise it at the time. Top of that pile, arguably, was the second record from Montreal’s most ferocious death metal entity, Cryptopsy. ‘None So Vile’ is a record that has more than stood the test of time, and is regularly mentioned in conversations about the greatest death metal album of all time. Well, thirty years on from its initial release, does that tag still hold water considering the veritable deluge of death metal records vying for said title released since? Before we even start on the music within, we need to take a moment to fully appreciate the sinister album cover, from a 17th century painting by Baroque painter Elisabetta Sirana, entitled ‘Herodias With the Head of John the Baptist’. Totally at odds with almost…