Cryptosis

Based in Enschede, the Netherlands, Cryptosis took shape in 2020 as the direct continuation of Distillator, a thrash trio founded in 2013 by Laurens Houvast, Frank te Riet and Marco Prij. Under the new name the band retained a thrash metal foundation but steered toward a more progressive, technical and darker songwriting style, marked by a science-fiction aesthetic and more fluid song constructions than in their earlier period. Cryptosis features Laurens Houvast on vocals and guitar, Frank te Riet on vocals and bass, and Marco Prij on drums. Before the change of identity, the three musicians had released Revolutionary Cells (2015) and Summoning the Malicious (2017) as Distillator. The transition to Cryptosis was realized in 2021 with Transmissions of Chaos, a split shared with Vektor, followed by Bionic Swarm, the band’s first full-length presented as a concept album. Cryptosis continued this trajectory with Celestial Death in 2025, developing a tense, dense and futuristic thrash metal at the crossroads of speed, progressive and a tension close to death/thrash.