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Recorded live at the Week-End Extreme in Montreal last year, Cryptopsy’s live album is a truly crushing affair and is the band’s first recording to feature vocalist Martin Lacroix who has been with the band for almost two years now. Lacroix is an intense growler who carries the often times maddening Cryptopsy sound quite nicely. If you’ve seen them live, you pretty much know what’s going to hit you when it comes to None So Live. It is a brutal offering of technical death metal at its finest played by an extremely tight group. There was very little post-production employed in the mastering of this record in the hopes of preserving the live and in the flesh feel. All of the hits are here among the 12 songs on None So Live, from the roaring intro to Crown of Horns, classics Defenestration and Open Face Surgery, and of course the fan favourite Phobophile, all played to a tee with little to differentiate them from their studio-recorded counterparts. Newer songs also in monstrous form include Shroud, White Worms and Cold Hate, Warm Blood.

There’s also a kickin’ drum solo from kit master Flo Mournier, who more than lives up to the reputation he’s developed over the years. This one takes me back to the solos on Metallica’s Live Shit videos, but of course Flo is a million times the drummer that Lar$ ever was/will be.

I’m normally not an avid follower of live recordings, but None So Live hit all the right notes with me. This is the perfect representation of what Cryptopsy is all about and is a must have for fans of the group. A killer recording that should hold over nicely until the next studio album arrives. Viva Cryptopsy!