None So Vile is the first album to feature bassist Eric Langlois, and the last to feature vocalist Lord Worm, until his return on 2005's Once Was Not.
The album has gained a cult following since its release, and is now considered a classic within the death metal genre.
Music and lyrics
William York of AllMusic described None So Vile's sound as "almost entirely relentless," and Ultimate Guitar senior editor David Slavković said "It's really hard to find anything as raw and brutal as Cryptopsy". Kerrang! described the album's style as "technical without being bloated, blasphemous without being cheesy, [and] brutal without being predictable."[2][3][4] Joe DiVita of Loudwire characterized the sound as "almost sounding as if two albums are being played on top of one another."[5]
Decibel characterized the album's sound as demonstrating "monstrous groove, maniacal tempos, savagely bangable riffs and scorched-throat vocals." Kevin Stewart-Panko of Decibel described Cryptopsy vocalist Lord Worm's vocals as "the most artful use of the death growl ever put on record," and his lyrics as "literate, profane, wryly funny, [and] Burroughs-esque". William York of AllMusic described Lord Worm's vocals as "a mix of psychotic low-end growls and tortured screams" and called them "suitably intense and scary."[6][7][8] Worm's vocals are unintelligible, and he "blatantly" omits syllables from his pronunciation of words.[9]
Daniel Lake of Decibel said None So Vile is instrumentally "brimming with technical ability that nevertheless always feels a half-second away from fraying, fragmenting and falling apart."[10] The album features downtuned guitars, complex time signatures, dissonant harmonies, "mid-paced chugging", and "blistering" guitar solos. William York of AllMusic described the album's sound as "tight, fast, and complex" and the riffs as "darkly catchy." Some of the tracks have drawn comparisons to thrash metal.[11][12] The album makes use of samples. The album's sixth track "Phobophile" features a dreary piano intro that draws influence from classical music.[13]
The cover art is from a classical painting by Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni titled Salome Bearing the Head of St. John the Baptist, reversed.[15] Travis Marmon of Vice noted that Cryptopsy used classical artwork for album artwork "before it became a cliché to do so."[16]
Reception and legacy
None So Vile is regarded as one of the most influential death metal albums of the 1990s, inspiring many later acts and musicians in both the technical death and brutal death metal subgenres.[17]Metal Hammer contended that the album is a "must-have for any extreme metal fan’s collection" and William York of AllMusic called the album "near perfection" by the genre's standards.[18][19] In congruence, Ultimate Guitar senior editor David Slavković called the album "technical perfection," and expressed his belief that Cryptopsy drummer Flo Mounier could be one of the greatest death metal drummers of all time.[20]
In 2016, Travis Marmon of Vice referred to None So Vile as "32 minutes of arguably the most brutal, technically demanding metal ever made." He said: "This group of high-caliber musicians created something completely savage: a combo of brutality and technicality that few could touch before or since, with a distinct image and theatricality that separated them from the likes of Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse. Along with their more avant-garde contemporaries Gorguts, Cryptopsy set the bar for extreme metal in Quebec. The province has become a tech-death haven in the past two decades, producing bands like Neuraxis and First Fragment, who have pushed the instrumental skill of their forefathers even further. But even beyond eastern Canada, any slam death band who can make music with actual replay value must have None So Vile on heavy rotation."[16]
In 2022, Metal Hammer named None So Vile as one of the greatest metal releases of 1996. The site's staff wrote: "It’s impossible to talk about technical death metal without mentioning this second album from Montreal’s Cryptopsy. Sit back and revel in the twisted lyricism of vocalist Lord Worm - served via an unholy torrent of inhuman gutturals and demonic shrieks - whilst the hyper blasts of 'Crown Of Horns' and 'Slit Your Guts' disturbing tremolo picking offset by relentless breakdowns pound your cranium into ruthless submission. Brutal and beautifully chaotic, None So Vile remains the pinnacle in the band’s discography and is a must-have for any extreme metal fan’s collection."[21]
In 2025, Joe DiVita of Loudwire named None So Vile as the best death metal album of 1996, saying: "This is death metal at its most untamed."[22]
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