18 December 2025 – The Crowbar, Brisbane – words by Alessandro Ambrosi – pictures by Marty Schmidt
With ears still ringing from the Dying Fetus show on Sunday tonight is time for another night of brutality with Cryptopsy with Snake Mountain and Idle Ruin in tow.
CRYPTOPSY is a legendary Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, renowned for their extreme speed, complex arrangements, and brutal sound. Originally formed in 1988 under the name Necrosis, they rebranded as Cryptopsy in 1992 and have since become a cornerstone of the global extreme metal scene. With this tour they are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of the masterpiece called None so Vile.
Coming up from the Gold Coast is SNAKE MOUNTAIN which play a cinematic inspired melodic technical death metal. Active since 2015 they are certainly a staple name in the south-east Queensland metal scene and the scores gigs supporting international name are a testament their excellence.
Brisbane’s own IDLE RUIN formed during that “fantastic” time that was the Covid pandemic. Inspired by 80’s and 90’s Teutonic thrash and black metal, they masterfully mix them to create an old-school but fresh sound which will have you head-banging from the get go.
An already decent number of patrons are at the Crowbar when 8 pm strikes and it’s time for the Brisbane trio, Idle Ruin to step on stage. ‘Whipped to Death’ from their first 2020 self-titled EP starts the night and after a minute or so, those 80’s influences are straight in your face like their whole set will turn out to be.
Idle Ruin – Crowbar – photos by Marty Schmidt
‘Valley Inferno’ and ‘Delta Hexatoxin’ keep the vibe going strong with their thrash-death annihilation. Tonight, we also get a new song ‘Dark Harvest’ to which the punters respond very well. ‘Sycophant’ and ‘Among the Pilliga’ from the 2023 full length The Fell Tyrant make way to the last song of the set which is a cover of ‘Myth of Creation’ from Armoured Angel. IDLE RUIN might be a local support but they are a force to be reckoned with and deserve the support they got tonight.
Drinks and a stretch and SNAKE MOUNTAIN from the Gold Coast are on stage. The 5 piece melodic technical death metal has a less raw and more technically complex approach from the previous band. Nev on vocals is a tornado of growls,screams and crowd interaction and the rest of the band is as tight as it gets in their delivery.
Snake Mountain – Crowbar – photos by Marty Schmidt
‘The Revenant’ is a show of technical brutality that grabs the audience and revs it up for the rest of the set. The tapping guitars and blast-beats of ‘Veins’ make way for ‘Extinction Through Fire’ from the 2024 EP Villainous I: Reverence. ‘The Serpent’ kept showcasing the band’s technical skills and ‘A Portalis Infernum’ ends their 30 minutes set with the crowd wanting for more. It was a first Snake Mountain experience for me and I was not disappointed!
And then it was time for CRYPTOPSY delivering a masterclass in extreme technicality that reaffirmed their status as icons of the genre. Celebrating their 1996 masterpiece None So Vile alongside new material from 2025’s An Insatiable Violence, the band’s performance was characterised by a “near-perfect blend of extreme brutality and technicality”.
Cryptopsy – Crowbar – photos by Marty Schmidt
Drummer Flo Mounier remains the band’s driving force, providing an organic intensity rarely matched in modern tech-death. His jazz-influenced transitions and relentless blast beats anchored the set. Matt McGachy commanded the stage with unhinged barks and gutturals that paid homage to the “inhuman” style of Lord Worm while maintaining modern clarity.
The performance of ‘Phobophile’ stood as the centerpiece, featuring its iconic gothic piano intro before descending into high-speed chaos. While the tour title teased None So Vile, the set served as a career-spanning bridge. It featured the frantic energy of 1990s classics like ‘Crown of Horns’ and ‘Slit Your Guts’ alongside the “stank-face riffs” of their Grammy-winning 2023 album As Gomorrah Burns and 2025’s An Insatiable Violence.
Cryptopsy – Crowbar – photos by Marty Schmidt
Horns went high and the pit went in circle. A relentless hour of extreme music, the show was a “beautiful trainwreck” of precision and grime that proved Cryptopsy is entering a new era of dominance.
