Cryptopsy has been doing a lot of touring lately. I think this is the third tour within a year in Europe. Probably because they are an “independent band”. Anyway, as I saw them both times and closer to home, normally I would probably have skipped this show. But they brought Psycroptic with them on this tour, and these Tasmanians don’t come to Europe all that often. So off I went to Tilburg on this hot Monday evening. Even though the venue was cool when I arrived, that wouldn’t last very long.

So it was Psycroptic first who got some 50 minutes. They started with a song off their latest album, “Cold”. It is probably their best album since The Sceptre of the Ancients. Tight, fast, varied and technical sums up this band quite well. All of them have excellent skills on their instruments. The guitar part are full of crazy melodic runs among all the powerchords and tremolo picking. The drums provide a solid backing with lots of variation, and not just relying on blast beats. And the bass fills it out quite well. On the hand, I’ve never been a huge fan of the current vocalist, but he’s generally okay. Nevertheless a very great performance, focussing mostly on the newer material, such as Observant, Carriers of the Plague, Echoes to Come. But of course the brilliant “The Colour of Sleep” off The Sceptre of the Ancients was played; that opening riff is so heavy.

Well then it was time to change the stage. They had to replace the entire drum kit, I wonder why they couldn’t just re-use Dave’s kit. But anyway, it all went quite fast and in some 20 minutes the new kit was in place, everything soundchecked and good to go. Well, actually the guitar sound was a bit low in the mix. The advantage of such a small venue is that you can really see what every one is doing. Particularly looking at Flo’s drumming, makes one realise that it is nearly impossible what he is pulling off and with apparent ease. They started off with the a bit of Defenestration, but then quickly changed into White Worms. The set list was at least a bit different from the other two shows I saw. Cold Blood, Warm Hate is their finest song off Whisper Supremacy. And they also played two new songs they recorded for some EP. At a first hearing I wasn’t all that impressed by them, but we’ll see what teh EP turns out to be. Then of course there were the classics off their best album None So Vile, Benedictine Convulsion, Slit Your Guts and the set closer Phobophile. So in the end a very enjoyable show.