After finishing 2012 on a killer note with the likes of Gorephilia, Maveth, Desolate Shrine and Paroxsihzem, Dark Descent Records is off to an equally killer and equally Finnish start to 2012 with releases from Vorum and Krypts.

One could argue that the Finnish death metal revival is almost equal to the Swedish revival of the last few years, and that revival is being spear headed by Dark Descent as they did with Swedish death metal just a couple of years ago. With the likes of  Corpsessed, Cryptborn, Gorephilia, Maveth, Desolate Shrine and Vorum as fine examples of the genre, up comes Krypts and offers arguably the best of the lot.

Aptly named, Krypts carry the same cavernous, murky, hulking sound as their Finish label mates, but where they differ is in more structured and memorable riffs, not that any of the aforementioned bands were forgettable. Rather than rely strictly on massive, churning mountains of down tuned chaos, Krypts‘ song writing is more riff based and controlled, even if full of the same undulating throes of muddy mayhem laced with lurching doomy segments. And believe it or not, the production and delivery of these riffs might be even bigger and nastier than their label mates. And to these ears, even with tangible nods to the bands mentioned above,  Krypts have a little more in common with Binah, in their delivery of utterly massive riffs and truly earth shaking slower tones.

Folks, there are some really nasty, massive moments here.  Heck, even opening introductory number “Perpetual Beyond”, is a eye opener as it segues in the destructive swath cut by “Blessed Entwinement” which opens the abyss to the rest of the albums crumbling atmospheres and sheer, oppressive weight that would make Cthulu shudder in fear. Then “Open the Krypt” does just that- unleashing a torrid explosion and stench of fetid fury and hulking groove and trundle  that sounds like Grave on steroids, which in turn, are also on steroids.  On so goes the rest of the album, that frankly can’t be surmised by mere words at times- it’s truly a mammoth release. Even at a mere 38 minutes, Unending Degradation feels a lot longer – even as the penultimate  “Day of Reckoning”  pummels with a salvo  of Realms of Chaos- like steadiness and  closer ‘Beneath the Archaic” shunts into view, you feel like a couple of white rhinos have been fucking on your chest for over half an hour.

If there is one complaint I have, it’s that when either Maveth, Vorum, Corpsessed, Desolate Shrine or even non Dark Descent acts like Desecresy or non Finnish, stylistically close bands like Indesinence and Binah start playing on my ipod, I have to check to see which one it is as they sound fairly similar- not only just in sound and tone but in killer quality. But they say you can never have too much of a good things, so consider my gripe the nit picking quibbles of a spoiled music journalist and enjoy Unending Degradation for what it is- monstrously good and arguably ones of Dark Descent’s best release behind Entrails’ and Binah‘s debuts. Its crazy that a label that has only been in existence for a few years can be so dominating when it comes to death metal releases, and they show no signs or slowing down or letting up  even after a banner years as 2012, as Unending Degradation forcefully shows.

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