Cryptodira @ Alhambra, Paris - March 17th, 2023

 

Cryptodira is a band from Long Island, New York that fuses progressive rock and extreme metal. Their new single Tragic was just released earlier this month and is a good indication of their musical style. Full of light and shade, it is at once complex and kinetic and is executed flawlessly with precision and passion.

Of particular not is the virtuosic math-rock interplay of the guitarists which sort of harkens back to King Crimson's Discipline era, while the more brutal passages recall early Opeth and even black gaze bands like Deafheaven. In the space of a single songs, they can play some ethereal songscapes and some crushing riffs. They can play extremely fast, then follow it up with some super heavy breakdown. But perhaps the biggest contradiction is that a band named after an animal species whose neck retracts or elongates, as opposed to bending, can produce so much head banging in its audience.