KRYPTOR – Neřest a ctnost / Vice and virtue (demo 1988) LP box

Description

Even to those who already know they can trust their ever-faithful DOOMENTIA imprint to dig up the foulest hidden germ of the late 80’s Czech underground (check TÖRR, CRUX or DEBUSTROL recent LPs), the re-release of ‘Nerest A Ctnost’ will still come out as a treat.

A mish-mash of hardcore attitude, nasty thrash riffing and early black-metal concept, the Prague-based KRYPTOR was next to DEBUSTROL maybe the band most feared band. Even more so since they had formed in 1987 back when the Iron Curtain was still a reality and when even simply buying an instrument was a challenge. Initially released in ’88 as ‘Vice And Virtue’ (even if only one of its song had English lyrics), their nine-tracks demo is stuff of legend.

Despite its insignificant budget and the many technical obstacles they had to overcome to make it a reality, ‘Nerest A Ctnost’ still is quite unique nowadays in 2012 as it was almost a quarter of a century ago. With a singer sounding like a way scruffier version of VENOM’s Cronos, its punkish vibe and all those almost undecipherable lyrics for all those non-Czech speaking metal fans out there, it nevertheless still sounds like nothing else out there and is a very special sonic document of what Czech metal was all about back in the 80’s.