Review by Greg on August 2, 2023.

An anomalous entity from Austin, Texas, Expander are a crossover thrash band defying every cliché that have surely insta-spawned in your head after having read those two words for the 227th time in my reviews. Building upon what their debut Endless Computer delivered, 2020 sophomore Neuropunk Boostergang promises another dose of dystopian pummeling, right after its rather bright, but still unsettling, artwork.

What we have here is basically crossover of the most stripped-down variety, thus leaning heavily on the punk side of things, coupled with a heavily oppressive, lo-fi atmosphere that might betray a possible Toxic Holocaust influence (the album's sound is courtesy of a joint venture between Joel Grind and Converge's Kurt Ballou, curiously enough). Also, the mandatory Voivod comparisons I've read around might not be limited to the space theme, for once, as Expander's overall sound might be traced back to the primitive, crusty sound of their early recordings, and there seems to be a certain dose of dissonant playing as well, which I lack the ear to judge, although I suspect it might have something to do with the creative tremolo parts (including the Misirlou-inspired[?] sequence of 'Waste Ranger').

Rising above this sludgy, down-tuned chaos and occasional electronic effects is a dual vocal attack (although only one vocalist seems to be credited) likewise drenched in reverb, and while the desperate shrieks are more than adequate, the hardcore-ish yells are a bit samey and unintelligible. Okay, I suspect that stanzas such as: 'The bipedal smasher 2000C / Flex quasi-brain master capacity / Binocular vision distorted / Biologic tension evaporates' don't exactly do their best to help in this regard – the lyrics might be more credible as an actual sci-fi novel edited to fit in the metrics of the album.

In any case, after having painted such an enthralling picture, I'm afraid Neuropunk Boostergang is off to a rather underwhelming start, with 'Wretched Warez' and 'Megacorp' sounding like a single, monolithic midtempo song, however heavy the result ends up being (incredibly so, I'd say). I guess the band was aiming for a very slow-burning buildup, judging from the punky 'Hyper-Flesh Aedificium' and finally from the full-on thrasher 'Waste Ranger' that follow. We're at the most intense part of the album indeed, the latter being one first highlight alongside the subsequent 'Cryptosteal' and the title-track to be found later. Both are characterized by electronic intros that wouldn't sound out of place on a Celldweller album, but the former gladly follows the path of the merciless jackhammering of your eardrums, while the latter is a slower, but no less menacing, monster of a track, recalling a Power Trip midtempo song... if seen through the eyes of an asylum patient.

If Expander's mission was to provide a bleak, nihilistic experience to the listener, I have no qualms when announcing that they've totally nailed it, especially after that rather cacophonous outburst of the desperate (but overlong) closer 'Quest For A Future'. Neuropunk Boostergang is not an easy album, one that you can listen while doing other stuff in the meantime, or even in your car. It's a tremendously interesting work at its peak moments, but a weighty one when taken all at once, especially since some of the songs weren't really distinguishable from one another, nor terribly memorable. Still, the band's concept is so cool that I'm curious to see what they'll release in the future...

I really, really do love their artworks, though. But they ain't getting points for that... maybe.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Tobias on March 26, 2001.

Unfortunately, I have very little to say about this disc. While I was listening to it, my wife’s exact words were, "You don’t like me anymore, do you? Why are you doing this to me?". Yes, smart-asses, she was making the comment in reference to the music.

While the album started out with some decent guitar riffing that sounded like a less-polished Whitesnake, by the fourth track, it was all starting to sound the same. Alright, that was the positive part.

Whitesnake was never a propagator of fine lyrical art, but sure as hell stymie Chinchilla with a seemingly deft command of poetry. What I’m trying to say in so many words is… Chinchilla’s lyrics mind-numbingly stupid. They’re worse than the ones I came up with when I was 13 years old (one of them had the line "and if you make me cut my hair… so there!"). In fact, they’re so moronic it’s freaking painful as hell! By the time I reached the "required" ballad track (titled Broken Heart, all hail the masters of originality!), I felt so sorry for this band and my own ears that I just turned it off.

Bottom Line: This is the most ghastly album I’ve reviewed to date. It might peak the interest of some 12-14 year old boys that are starting to kick rebel-mode into high-gear, but all in all, I could make better music by pinching monkey nipples.

Rating: 1 of 10

Review by Felix on March 31, 2025.

If the train is going in the wrong direction, every station is wrong. This saying is attributed to Otto von Bismarck, the founder of the German Empire in 1871, but it is still valid 150 years later and a band that changes from pure to progressive thrash could, in my view, be on the wrong train. Fortunately, the Ex-Distillator guys manage to give the listener the good feeling that the train is not going completely wrong. Their debut under the banner of Cryptosis was rebellious, excessive and impulsive. Celestial Death also has a lot of strong moments and its production fits the musical approach. Although it sounds a bit polished, the album does not lack aggression and directness. Moreover, the bass guitar, what rare luck, does not get lost in the sound. Maybe the drums should have get a more prominent position, but at the end of the day, I am speaking about a professional mix without any severe shortcomings.

"Faceless Matters", the first regular track, could be described as a more or less pure thrasher, only (depending on the deception of the listener) diluted or enriched by some atmospheric keyboards which do not rob the song of its energy. The band does not reach the level of insanity that dominated the whirlwind compositions on the final split under the old name, but the song does not lack speed, dynamic and coherence. However, the (slightly) reduced degree of lunacy shimmers through all pieces. It is okay that the band gets more and more mature as long as the guys do not lose their songwriting skills and a basic power. Yes, sometimes I miss a higher dose of grim ruthlessness, but on the other hand I appreciate the broad soundscape in some songs. It's a balancing act between thrashing combativeness and intellectual-technical attitude. Sometimes the band manages this challenge very cleverly, but in a few moments, the wrong direction of the train cannot be fully ignored. "Absent Presence", for example, is a solid-to-good song whose beginning reminds me a bit of Burzum's (!) slow yet hypnotizing songs, but its comparatively calm arrangement makes me miss the fury of the trio's old day. "Static Horizon" is another track with an affinity for elements foreign to thrash metal due to an almost meditative instrumental part at its ending. However, generally speaking the material of Celestial Death houses still straight, wild and vehement parts. Blast beats are not forbidden in "Cryptosphere", to give just one example. Nevertheless, the melodic parts seem to be in the focus of the guys during the song-writing process and I can confirm that they have a fine instinct for these sequences.

The vocals of Laurens Houvast is fighting against the danger that the full-length could leave a too soft impression. Despite the fact that he cleverly swings back and forth between snarling-aggressive and relatively normal shouting, his voice sounds always raw and non-conform. Given this, the few bombastic and rather inappropriately pathetic elements (for example in "Reign Of Infinity") fail to characterize the output and that's good. Flattening guitars and machine gun drums, not only at the beginning of the angry and extrovert "In Between Realities", have the last word on an album with a lot of musical force, but little weak spots as well. It would be too simple to say that the keyboards deliver the "celestial" elements and the guitars bring "death". The interplay of the individual instruments is just right, but one could do without boring, meaningless and synthetic intermezzos like "Motionless Balance" and the acceptable yet pretty powerless conclusion in the form of "Coda / Wander Into The Light" an instrumental, doesn't add any value to the album either. Whatever the case, maybe I'll get off this train soon. But the moment hasn't come yet.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Michael on February 27, 2025.

I always liked some sort of science fiction storytelling in metal like Nocturnus or Vektor did in their music. Since 2021 is another band active that is telling some (dystopian) sci-fi stuff in their songs, namely Cryptosis. Originally formed as Distillator (under that name they released two full-length albums before they changed name) you can clearly notice some remarkable changes in their style. Was Distillator some kind of baby Yoda already foreseeing his technical powers in the music, but still some kind of old-school thrash metal, Cryptosis have turned out into an adult Yoda with all his wisdom, knowing of all tragedies that will happen and these furious energies that he can unleash if necessary – and obviously it is quite often very necessary.

What has quite obviously changed are the now often frequented synthesizers that give the album a quite cinematic science fiction atmosphere. In every song you can find more or less epic synthesizers that underline this futuristic atmosphere very well. Although it sometimes is doubtful if the use of them is helpful, in the case of Celestial Death it truly is. Compared to its predecessor Bionic Swarm the Dutchs have increased the tempo so that there aren't too many slow or mid-tempo parts to find any more.

Another change are Laurens' vocals that sound even more aggressive than before. This matches really well to the often used tremolo-picked-stuffed songs that (which could already be foreseen on the Silent Call-EP) sometimes tend more to black metal and that peppers the music with a lot of grimness.

Of course Cryptosis don't go black metal really, and if you have ever seen the guys live you will know for sure that they leave nothing to chance. The technical skills of these three musicians are really stunning and everything works like a Swiss clockwork. The drumming is always super-well timed and I guess that there isn't a millisecond delay between the guitar / bass lines, vocals and the drums.

Something else that has changed is that they don't refer too much to some dissonant Voivod-like riffing but focus more on some traditional heavy metal riffs like in "Ascending". This makes it much easier to get access to the tracks and lets the album appear more out of one single casting. Personally I like it very much (okay, I never got into Voivod honestly) and maybe this is an approach to get more people listening to Cryptosis.

I would treat it to them because there are a lot of really awesome tracks to find. "Cryptosphere", "Ascension" or "Static Horizon" are hyperfast technical thrash bombs like the Enterprise on warp 10. Celestial Death is truly a masterpiece when it comes to an innovative fusion between the ferocity and brutality of classic thrash metal and requirements that are necessary to play super technical music.

But just like every super hero, also Yoda needs some rest and for this, we can listen to some calmer instrumentals like "Motionless Balance" or the outro "Coda – Wander Into The Light". Coda, hopefully not for Yoda (or in this case Cryptosis).

Rating: 8.5 out of 10