CRIPPER – Devil Reveals

With the might of Old School and Modern Thrash Metal combined with the complexity and multiplicity of Modern Death, semi-Melodic Death Metal, the German Cripper made their way towards their second album, Devil Reveals.

Before the foundation of the Devil Reveals album was given form, Cripper released two important releases that brought them to the decisive moment. In 2006, a year after their formation, the EP, Killer Escort Service, was released under the band’s own distribution. The impact of the EP gave birth to the band’s first album, Freak Inside, which was released in two different versions. The first was released in 2007 as a self-release and the second version was released as an official full-length under SAOL, the same label that released the punching Devil Reveals.

Through Freak Inside and from beginning to end of Devil Reveals, Cripper is being presented as one of the strongest acts in German Thrash Metal today. Their semi-tech riffs and punchy grooves that turn almost every single stage into a moshpit. With the tough-like vocals of the prevailing female stature of Britta Gortz, who chops with the magnitude of the riffs underneath the influence of legends as Sabina Classen, Chuck Billy, Chuck Schuldiner and Mille Petrozza while practicing the matching patterns as other Modern Death Metal singers. This makes Cripper similar to acts with womanized deathly approaches such as Holy Moses, The No-Mads and even the Swedish Decadence and Arch Enemy. As various acts of Thrash Metal turn into the deathly side of the music, it’s hard to ignore the power of the women touch, especially when it comes to the vocals.

Cripper, and the insides of Devil Reveals, are not only behind the deathly woman gimmick, these guys have something great to offer when it comes to the brutal type of Thrash Metal. As Germany has always been the supplier of a much stronger, Thrash, ever since the mid 1980s, Cripper is yet another great performance which has the ability to position itself in the same line as their compatriots, Holy Moses. Cripper, as Holy Moses throughout the years, became even tougher as their new material brought in another album. The showcased material of Devil Reveals is thumping and breaking, commanded by a majorly flawless production, in the spirit of the blood gushing moshpit and aura of the Old School. The only somewhat negative fact about Devil Reveals is that with all the creative riffs, amazing grooves and the atmosphere of the Old School, the solos can numbered as few and the existing ones are not in the quality that one would expect from such talented writers and players. With hope, that with their upcoming third album, Cripper will take notice of that because they have all the means to do it right.

Highlights: Staring from the beginning with a well done intro under the name of “Helix”. “I” and “Life Is Deadly” come next with full-throttle as “Junkie Shuffle, “Hysteria”, “I Am The Pit” and “More Than 4” pierce through the skin.

You don’t have to be into womanly Thrash in order to like this album, Devil Reveals isn’t falling from anything demonstrated in Modern Thrash Metal.