Now this is an interesting release. Encryptor is an underground death
metal band by Phil Diez who used to live in Panama but now resides in the U.S. He released two albums under the Encryptor
name...Drowning in Flesh and Sermon Decay. I know that the first album has become pretty hard to find
and come to think of it, I haven't seem the second disc for sale lately as well. Anyways...I'm assuming that this "collection"
disc that contains both complete albums is an attempt to make two hard to find discs easy to find now.
Like I said, this disc contains both complete albums listed above and also a bonus track by
an extreme metal band from Panama called Nocturnal Faith. Nocturnal Faith is currently recording a full length album
that will be released on Dysmorphic Records (which is Phil Diez' record label). The Nocturnal Faith song is actually
pretty good and this should be a band to keep your eyes on.
As for the Encryptor material, I won't re-review it all here. You can just look up my
individual reviews that I've already posted. The biggest disappointment is that the production wasn't improved on this
re-release. The production on both releases leaves a lot to be desired, but at least Sermon Decay is consistent.
Drowning in Flesh is all over the map, from decent to almost unbearable. Encryptor is pretty solid, brutal
death metal overall, but nothing that will really turn heads all that much in the genre. What Diez really excels at
is his black metal project, Sorrowstorm, which is much better quality than Encryptor. Sorrowstorm actually had the same
re-release of their first two albums about a year ago.
As far as packaging goes, this release has a reversable front cover, one with a picture of some
tombstones (see above) and the other is a mixture of the artwork from both of the previous two releases. The inside
does not contain lyrics, but contains a write up on the history of Encryptor. Only problem is, the font color on the
left hand side is very difficult to read if you are in the wrong light.
Overall, I'm not sure this was a completely warranted release...especially without any improvements
on the production. Even though Encryptor's albums are somewhat difficult to find, they both were released very recently
and still pop up now and then. Plus, I'm not sure if the demand was all that huge...but I may be wrong. Regardless
of the reason, the release is here and it is good news for fans that have been searching for the band's previous releases
to no avail. (Review by Matt)
