When listening to Indian metal Kryptos, I’m reminded of classic thrash metal. I’ve heard the Kryptos name thrown around here and there throughout the years so for a band that has what I would consider veteran status (formed in 1998 and set to release their fourth album Burn Up The Night) it comes as no surprise that their sound has come to a point where they cleverly use influences from 80’s thrash as well as taking their influences a little further back to the NWOBHM bands that helped inspire thrash metal in the first place, and then adding their own Kryptos touch to the sound and making it their own.
Musically the songs on Burn Up The Night have moments of superiority that I don’t hear from other modern bands that call themselves thrash metal bands. Kryptos do a good job with songs like the opening track “Blackstar Horizon” at keeping up a fast pace with a lot of energy, and then they throw in a solid breakdown that puts the song into perspective as something more than a fast song that’s all about aggression.
Then you have a song like “One Shot To Kill” which is really just a fast energetic song meant to get the blood pumping. However, unlike other songs such as “Full Throttle,” which I find is true to its title, “One Shot to Kill” only serves the purpose of keeping Burn Up The Night as loud and true to heavy metal as it can be. These faster songs are what I’d expect from Kryptos, but I was pleased to find that there’s just a bit more variety to their sound.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YswLXyHdYk[/embedyt]
Songs like the last two on the album, “Prepare to Strike” and the title track “Burn Up The Night” keep the volume right where you want it but slow things down to a more head-bangable pace leaving listeners to appreciate the riffs even more. Kryptos also include songs like “The Summoning” and “Unto Elysium” which practically hit doom metal standards from their slow yet bombastic sounds. None impress me more than “Waverider,” which is the one song on Burn Up The Night that perfectly mixes the fast rhapsodies of the album’s opener with the slow crunch of the album’s closers.
The one deciding factor for me with Burn Up The Night is Kryptos lead singer Nolan Lewis‘ singing style. He mixes the aggression of Cronos from Venom and the scary rasp of Schmier from Destruction. No, I’m not kidding, this is what singers from 80’s thrash/NWOBHM bands called themselves and still continue to do so. Such a raspy style of vocals only kind of appeals to me. I am a fan of Venom but I could never get into Destruction because of their vocals. However, I don’t know if it’s the more polished sound of the modern day, but because the music doesn’t sound like it was recorded on a tape recorder in someone’s basement the way some of these 80’s bands sounded (and probably were), I can’t help but find myself enjoying the sound and energy present on this Kryptos album.
Thanks for reading!
Follow Kryptos on Facebook and Twitter
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT
“Waverider”
FINAL RATING
7 (Out of 10)
Track List:
| 1 | Blackstar Horizon | 4:20 |
| 2 | Full Throttle | 3:50 |
| 3 | The Summoning | 5:22 |
| 4 | Unto Elysium | 5:51 |
| 5 | One Shot to Kill | 4:48 |
| 6 | Waverider | 4:48 |
| 7 | Prepare to Strike | 5:50 |
| 8 | Burn up the Night | 5:17 |
