My days of hanging out in clubs into the early hours of the morning are long past but it used to be a lot of fun to see five+ bands in a night because there were always one or more bands that I hadn’t heard previously who I ended up really liking. Queens-based Seizure Crypt would have been one of those bands and they have a boot-stomping, old-school hardcore sound that would have put them on the bill for many of those multi-band nights at L’Amour, CBGB and the Continental. Seizure Crypt cites playing over 100 self-booked shows and one of the biggest that I can remember was when the band opened for Sheer Terror at Webster Hall.

Seizure Crypt formed in 2004 and the band released their fourth full-length disc, You've Been Had!, earlier this summer. The music is high-energy crossover thrash (a band like Crumbsuckers is a good point of comparison) and the band blasts through twelve tracks in 26 minutes. Lyrically, the band has a healthy sense of self-awareness and humor and songs like “Bigger Than Politics” and “Seizure Crypt vs. The Devil” run the gamut between these two points.

In a recent interview, the band has said “We’re trying to bring fun back into heavy music and amuse ourselves in the process. While we are serious about our music, all the antics, costumes, and crazy ideas are just us letting loose and having fun. We really don’t think about projecting an image as much as turning shit upside down and sideways as often as we can.” The band’s bio adds that their live shows involve “costumes, combat and quite a bit of property destruction by the band's dueling vocalists”.

While Seizure Crypt isn’t breaking new ground musically, the band captures the raw energy of a live performance on the disc as it twists, turns and barrels like an out-of-control freight train that is always on the verge of derailing. The new disc was produced by Colin Marston (Krallice, Behold... The Arctopus) who does an excellent job of capturing both the musicality and ragged fury of the band. The dueling vocalists also gives the music an ‘edge’ as Tom has a straight-up punk/oi vocal style while Mike’s vocals are maniacal.



There is something sort of comforting and reassuring about an old-school hardcore album as you always know what you are getting (no Guns N’ Roses style “symphonic ballads” here) and, if you don’t like one song, the next one starts in a minute or two.

Seizure Crypt has said on their website that they are gearing up for some live shows but no dates have been announced yet.

Links:
Seizure Crypt