Few bands have set the underground world ablaze like Crypta, Brazil’s latest and perhaps soon to be, greatest, extreme metal export. Their stunning new album, Shades of Sorrow, dropped August 4 on Napalm Records and doesn’t just beat the dreaded sophomore slump, it annihilates the very concept. Everything that made their debut album, 2021’s Echoes of the Soul, one of the most talked about death metal records in recent memory has been refined, improved, and amplified tenfold. Shades of Sorrow is a deeply personal, cathartic record for frontwoman Fernanda Lira, one that finds the veteran musician—who spent nearly a decade playing bass and shrieking in Nervosa—pushing her creative talents to astonishing new levels.
“I think we were more confident and aware of what Crypta sounds like,” she says about the songwriting and firebrand performances captured on their new record. “On the first album—I love all of our songs—but we were still trying to find our identity. One song is completely different from the other genre wise,” she says, referencing the gamut of thrash metal, black metal, and good ol’ Florida death metal influences featured heavily on their debut. “On this new album, we were able to blend it all together on each song. You can feel the fluidity on these songs. Also, our minds were boiling with ideas. We wrote this album super-fast,” she reveals. “Echoes took over a year; this album was written in months because we were so full of ideas. There was a lot of creativity going on.”
Shades of Sorrow opens with an eerie piano heavy instrumental track, then kicks off properly with “Dark Clouds,” one of the most pummeling songs the band have ever written. Lira unleashes some insanely deep vocal growls that mesh seamlessly with her later era-Chuck-Schuldiner-reincarnated rasp as a barrage of blast beats and twisted guitar wails engulf your ears. “Yesterday I showed the album to one of my best friends, and he asked me, ‘Hey those gutturals, are they yours, or is that a feature song with anyone else? It sounds too different than your vocals,’” she says, laughing. “I have my technique—the fry scream—but I tried to make it as varied as possible. I wanted people to notice the different nuances here.”
Crypta’s new album is packed to the brim with both subtle nuances and bludgeoning declarations. The twin guitar attack of shredders Tainá Bergmaschi and newest recruit, Jessica di Falchi, lay down epic guitar harmonies that give way to slamming breakdowns. Drummer Luana Dametto plays intricate Gene Hoglan-esque grooves in-between blast beat salvos. Songs end with skin-crawling whispers, while others begin with haunting lullabies, juxtaposed with the most ferocious vocals Lira has recorded to date. The genre hopping Lira described in the past has been replaced by an exquisite, track-by-track amalgamation of all things metal. “That was one of our main rules when we were writing our songs,” Lira recalls. “It had to be as organic as it can be. We didn’t want it to sound like this (genre) or that. We wanted to let it flow in the most organic way possible.”
The writing for Shades of Sorrow hit a speed bump when original guitarist Sonia Anubis exited Crypta last year. “Sonia was still in the band when we started writing the album,” Lira shares before describing their amicable split. “When she decided to leave, she took everything she had written. We agreed to that. Everything she had written by herself she took from our Google Drive.” Anubis’ departure left Lira and Bergmaschi as the band’s primary riff masters, although Dametto crafted what would become the album’s first single on her own, and new guitarist, di Falchi, contributed her uncanny solos to the mix. “The album was mainly written by me and Tainá, riffs and structure wise,” Lira says. “Now that she was the main writer alongside me, it was a beautiful process, I have to say. It was like being in heaven. She’s so talented and so creative… and she’s a very good translator of my mouth riffs because I can’t play guitar, so I create all my riffs like (mimics guitar) ’da-chu-chu-chu-da-da-na!’ When I listen to the album, I can feel both of our influences dancing together on every song.”
Every song save for the album’s lead single, “Lord of Ruins.” This killer tune has major Swedish death metal vibes and was written by Crypta’s drummer and stealth riff assassin, Luana Dametto. “The band thought this would be a good welcoming track for the album. It’s very melodic but also there’s a breakdown part and it’s a good balance between aggression and melody,” Lira says.
Dametto and Lira also worked together to flesh out the album’s thematic and artistic direction. Shades of Sorrow’s cover art features a hooded figure sitting on a throne of swords surrounded by candles, the same figure that antagonizes the band in their “Lord of Ruins” music video.
“I am a tarot reader,” Lira reveals. “The album artwork was inspired by one tarot card that had everything to do with the whole concept I created lyrically. It’s a very personal, nearly autobiographical album. It describes my journey through some dark times, my journey through pain, all the shades of sorrow I had to experience while traveling in these dark times I was dealing with. The card that inspired this was the Eight of Swords, but for the artwork it had to be seven for aesthetic reasons. This card is basically the concept of the album. It’s about being stuck in your own pain and insecurities and feeling disempowered but also, about you having the key to tame your own demons and get out of the situation and come back to life.
“That’s what the artwork and the video are about. The video clip is about us killing our inner demons and giving space for us to thrive. I want to show people that you can love life and be cheerful and still have to face your demons and still go through some dark shit. I want to write about that so people can know that it’s fine, that you’re not alone going through this.”
Given that Crypta just completed their first North American tour supporting the legendary Morbid Angel, it’s fitting to say that their debut record, Echoes of the Soul, could be akin to Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness, while Shades of Sorrow is Crypta’s version of Blessed Are The Sick.
“Fuck yeah! I love that comparison,” Lira says. Their first tour of the United States found Crypta playing to packed venues filled with ravenous fans, despite their early set time. “The response from this tour was amazing. We knew people were excited for us to be there,” Lira says. “Americans were commenting on our posts constantly, like, ‘When are you coming to the U.S.?’ I knew it was going to be cool, but honestly, I didn’t expect it to be that cool. It was literally the best tour I’ve ever done in my life.”
The best tour ever almost turned into a living nightmare when disaster struck in the middle of a concert. On March 31, 2023, a tornado hit the Apollo Theatre AC in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one fan, injuring dozens more, and destroying Crypta’s rented tour RV. This placed the band in an emotional and financial predicament. Luckily, the metal community rallied behind them and raised over $60,000 in mere days to repay the damages they incurred for the lost vehicle, saving them from doom.
“Even though there was a tornado and all that awful stuff, it was magical. We couldn’t believe the fans,” Lira says. “When you’re the opening band, or when you play early at a festival, you never know what to expect. When we got on stage and saw a lot of people there, I was surprised by that every time. The feedback was way better, and the support we got was bigger than we expected. It was jaw-dropping, to be honest.”
Shades of Sorrow is available now from Napalm Records. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram for future updates. And don’t forget that Crypta is one of our cover artists for the latest issue of New Noise Magazine.
Image courtesy of James Alvarez
