Cryogen’s Continuum Isn’t Particularly Broad
If you could freeze one little pod of modern melodic death metal right now, it would greatly resemble Denver’s Cryogen. Unfortunately, Cryogen are not only representative of modern melodeath, but they’re also representative of a number of problems with modern melodeath. The band possess technical competence, and Continuum’s got excellent production, but there’s no soul in the music. Nothing in particular distinguishes them from the endless masses of similar bands, and the songwriting’s so generic and uninspired we might as well be listening to pop.
I’ve dubbed the band “melodic death metal,” but they really sit somewhere between As I Lay Dying and Insomnium, lacking both the heaviness of the former and the evocative power of the latter. Undeveloped melodies half-start and half-finish, focusing on the mere idea of having a melody rather than the quality of the melodies themselves. Same goes with the heaviness – nothing is fleshed out enough, so that it all sounds kind of watered-down and filtered down into a flavorless mass, like eating a plain burger with no bun. There’s an annoying adherence to conventions, melodically, tonally, and structurally. And the band’s transitions from riff to riff and soft to heavy aren’t as smoothly liquid as they would like to think. There’s too much attention paid to current trends and no attempt to develop their own ideas. The first half of “Synthetic Essence” solo is almost a note-for-note rip off of Scar Symmetry’s “Holographic Universe”; the djenty stomping sections are irritating (“Contagion”) and detract from the ideas Cryogen attempt to communicate.
Ryan Conner’s vocal delivery is one of the factors that most cements this ennui – his voice is mid-range, nearly monotone, and wholly unemotional. This kind of flat vocal delivery pairs well with, say, Meshuggah, or more traditional death metal, where the intended affect is harsh, apathetic, and grating. But the music Cryogen are trying to write attempts to elicit some sort of emotional response, and Conner’s textureless voice prevents this from even starting to happen. Things fall together every once in a while – the keyboard section in “Capgras Delusion” is moderately entertaining, and catchy melodies breathe life into closer “Exit Strategy.” “Rama II” has a slightly interesting blackened section, but unfortunately begins with and dissolves into misguided pseudo tech-death.
Technically, there’s nothing” wrong” with the music. There are plenty of B riffs, B ideas, B transitions. But nobody wants to listen to B music, and the fact is that Cryogen’s Continuum is so bland and unremarkable that it would be hard for me to pick out a single riff I found innovate or even memorable after several listens. Cryogen would have done better to strip this down to the best ideas and release an EP rather than jamming half-baked ones into a full-length. A bad album inspires some sort of legitimate emotional response, but an album like Cryogen’s Continuum is so complete in its mediocrity that it fails entirely to inspire, to emote, to surprise – it fails entirely in its character. It reminds me of Dethklok more than anything else, an inoffensive mix of metal’s best selling points that ends up pleasing only those who can’t take it upon themselves to search for and find more interesting artists. It’s cold, flat, and unlikely to undergo any changes for the next million years. At least they got their name right.
Cryogen’s Continuum is out now on Dark Millenium Records. Listen here and get it here.
