[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Their first demo, Life in Grave, was put out in 1985 and became well circulated in the tape trading underground despite the limited release. Their first full length LP, Convicted, was released in 1986 on Death/Metal Blade records,which also put out such bands as D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, Dr. Know, The Mentors, and Beyond Possession. Within its first year of release, Convicted sold over 25,000 copies and earned Cryptic Slaughter the reputation as being one of the fastest bands in hardcore. Their next album, Money Talks, was released in 1987, which is still one of my all time favorites, mixing crushing grooves with lightning speed, Money Talks surpassed Convicted’s success by selling 35,000 in its first year and by earning Cryptic Slaughter a fanatical following around the world.

The original lineup of Cryptic Slaughter recorded their final studio album, Stream of Consciousness, in 1988. Unhappy with the recording process and the album’s production, they broke up in the summer on tour before Stream of Consciousness was released later that fall. They played their last show in Detroit on July 14, 1988.

Guitar player Les Evans reformed the band in 1989 with an entirely new lineup excluding himself, and Cryptic Slaughter released Speak your Peace in 1990 but it was short lived as they again disbanded after touring in 1990. In 2003 there was a brief Cryptic Slaughter reunion and Money Talks and Convicted were re-released with added bonus tracks from Cryptic Slaughter’s demo and live recordings but they have been virtually silent since with the only exception being one track, Lowlife, was used on Tony Hawk’s Project 8 Video Game in 2006.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

The last video is kinda significant because it’s Cryptic Slaughter’s Lowlife from Tony Hawk’s Project 8, featuring me playing, and yes I thought you got bonus points for crashing into trash cans, oh well, but it’s also the first video I personally uploaded to youtube, it’s the first time I used a dvr to record what was on the television and the first time I converted a dvd to mpeg to upload to youtube.